Search fatalities

Joshua Cooper

Age : 31

Gender : Male

Race : Black

Date : 09/18/2021

Location : 1440 Utica Avenue

City : Brooklyn

County : Kings

State : New York

Agency : U.S. Park Police

Officer(s) :Not disclosed

Cause of Death : Gunshot

Event : Not disclosed

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 09/18/2021, 31-year-old Joshua Cooper was fatally shot during a gunfight involving an off-duty United States Park Police officer outside Island CZ Lounge at 1440 Utica Avenue in Brooklyn. The New York Attorney General's Office of Special Investigation later formally identified Cooper as the person who died and classified the incident as a shooting involving the Federal Parks Police. The AG record lists his race/ethnicity as unknown, although other compilations identify Cooper as Black.
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The shooting occurred at approximately 3 a.m. outside the nightclub. Contemporary reports said an off-duty Park Police officer was with another person when two men approached them and an armed confrontation followed. Gunfire left the federal officer seriously wounded and several other people shot, including Cooper.
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The later federal investigation substantially clarified what precipitated the shooting. Federal prosecutors identified John Shortt and Isiah Greenaway as the two men accused of attempting to rob the off-duty Park Police officer and another person at gunpoint. The officer drew his own firearm, identified himself as a police officer and fired during the resulting exchange of gunfire.
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Shortt was struck during the exchange. The Park Police officer was shot multiple times and survived. Cooper was also struck and critically wounded. He subsequently died, making him the sole fatality from the gunfight.
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The later federal prosecution established considerably more about the circumstances than was available in the first news reports. Shortt ultimately pleaded guilty to assaulting a federal officer and possessing and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence. Greenaway was also prosecuted in connection with the attempted armed robbery.
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A crucial limitation remains in determining precisely how Cooper was killed. Although the off-duty Park Police officer unquestionably fired his weapon during the gunfight, the publicly available records located for this update do not establish that the bullet that killed Cooper was fired by the officer rather than another participant.
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That uncertainty appears to explain an important detail in the New York Attorney General's official record. The Office of Special Investigation lists Joshua Cooper, age 31, Kings County, Federal Parks Police, death by shooting on 09/18/2021, but records the case as closed with the notation “No defined officer.”
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The Attorney General's record also states that there was no agency video of Cooper's shooting. Consequently, there is no police body-camera or other agency recording identified by the state that independently establishes who fired the fatal round.
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The off-duty Park Police officer's identity was not disclosed in the reliable public records located for this update. Because the officer participated in the gunfight but available evidence does not establish that he fired the fatal shot, the Officer(s) field remains Not Disclosed rather than assigning an unverified officer.
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No affirmative later evidence establishes that Cooper's family publicly challenged the reconstructed circumstances of the shooting, and no wrongful-death or civil-rights lawsuit brought by Cooper's family arising from his death was located.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND
The off-duty United States Park Police officer who exchanged gunfire during the attempted robbery has not been publicly identified. The New York Attorney General's later official record notably closed Cooper's case with “No defined officer,” rather than attributing his death to a particular law-enforcement officer.
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The United States Park Police nevertheless entered this incident amid major controversy concerning its use of deadly force and transparency. The most prominent case was the 2017 killing of Bijan Ghaisar in Northern Virginia by Park Police officers Alejandro Amaya and Lucas Vinyard following a vehicle pursuit. Ghaisar was shot while inside his vehicle, and the killing produced years of criminal and civil litigation and intense scrutiny of the agency's pursuit, deadly-force and accountability practices.
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That departmental history does not establish misconduct by the unidentified off-duty officer involved in Cooper's death. More importantly for this particular case, the public evidence does not establish that the officer fired the bullet that killed Cooper. The database entry should preserve that distinction rather than converting participation in the gunfight into an unsupported finding that the officer personally shot Cooper.
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SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/18/nyregion/brooklyn-robbery-off-duty-officer-shooting.html
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/off-duty-park-police-officer-shot-multiple-times-in-brooklyn-robbery/3267838/
https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/ny-off-duty-cop-shooting-robbery-utica-avenue-20210918-3oyrwe7z4rafdg7nbwskwrff2u-story.html
https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/defendant-pleads-guilty-attempted-armed-robbery-federal-officer-brooklyn
https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/reports/osi-2022-annual-report.pdf