Vigil held at Athens Square for man fatally shot by police during mental health crisis in Astoria

Astorians gathered at Athens Square a day after a 61-year-old man from the neighborhood was shot and killed by police while having a mental health crisis the day before. Photos by Ramy Mahmoud

April 21, 2025 By Bill Parry

A group of concerned Astoria residents held a vigil on Athens Square on Wednesday evening in memory of their neighbor, who was gunned down by police on Tuesday morning after they repeatedly ordered him to drop a knife he was holding.

The police fired tasers at the 61-year-old man who failed to stop him. When he turned and advanced towards an officer, they opened fire with their service weapons.

The fatal shooting occurred just before 6:30 a.m. on April 14 near the intersection of 31st Street and 30th Avenue, after officers from the 114th Precinct had responded to multiple 911 calls reporting a man acting erratically while armed with a 14-inch butcher knife. Officials said the man had two prior incidents of mental distress that NYPD officers responded to, but would not provide any details of the previous incidents.

Video on Citizen app showed officers administering aid to the wounded man before EMS arrived. He was transported in critical condition to Elmhurst Hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly before 8:30 a.m., police said.

The NYPD’s Force Investigation Division is reviewing the incident as part of the department’s standard protocol following officer-involved shootings. The New York Attorney General’s Office of Special Investigation (OSI) has also launched a probe of the police-involved fatal shooting of the civilian, who has not been identified.

Photos by Ramy Mahmoud

The folks who gathered at Athens Square urged the NYPD to show more restraint when it comes to dealing with people having mental health emergencies.

“I live really close by, and it’s really concerning to me that someone who’s clearly having a mental health crisis was killed just for being in crisis,” said Astoria resident Reyna Wang. “What he really needed was someone he knew who could de-escalate the situation. The [police] only talked to him for less than a minute before they opened fire.”

Photos by Ramy Mahmoud

Another woman who attended the vigil said life in New York City can be hard. “Maybe you called out of work and stayed in bed, maybe you cried on the phone to a loved one. It was terrible, I’m sure, but you made it through, you were safe,” she said.

“A lot of people in this city are not safe. A lot of them can’t even remember the last time they didn’t have a bad day, or when they had a warm meal, or when they felt like someone was on their side. Our system of oppression shuns those people off to the side, locks them up and denies them care. We pretend that they don’t exist until they have the worst day of their lives, and then we wonder what’s happening to this city.”