# Killing of Nyah Mway

On the night of June 28, 2024, Nyah Mway (Karen:), a thirteen-year-old Southeast Asian American refugee, was shot and killed in Utica, New York, by Patrick Husnay, an officer of the Utica Police Department (UPD). He is thought to be the first Karen person killed in the United States by a police officer. Police shootings of Asian Americans are uncommon compared to other ethnic groups. As of August 2024 the case is under investigation by the attorney general of New York.

## Biography

Nyah Mway was born on August 8, 2010, in the Umpiem Mai Refugee Camp in Tak province, Thailand to Karen refugee parents from Myanmar. He had three siblings. The family settled in Utica in 2015. Utica is home to several refugee communities, including about 8,000 Karens. Nyah Mway's family is Buddhist, but he occasionally attended a Bible study group with friends. According to his family, he had never been in trouble with law enforcement. Nyah Mway's mother described him as "obedient and respectful" and protective toward his younger sister. His brother said he spoke of wanting to finish school and become a doctor.

## Shooting

Nyah Mway had graduated from middle school earlier that week. He had told his mother that he was going out with his friends to get food. When stopped by police, he and a friend were returning home. Some sources state that he had gone to a graduation barbecue and/or a Bible study group.
A string of armed robberies had recently taken place in West Utica. Police described the suspects as Asian males with a black firearm. Around 10 pm, three officers patrolling the area stopped Nyah Mway and a friend, believing they fit the description. One officer asked to pat down Nyah Mway, who then tried to run away. In a statement, police said that he turned and flashed a weapon at them. Officer Bryce Patterson tackled him to the ground and began punching him. The other two officers followed behind. While he was pinned, Husnay fired a single shot into his chest. An officer attempted to perform chest compressions until an ambulance arrived. Nyah Mway died at Wynn Hospital in Utica.
Police stated that they recovered a pellet gun replica of a Glock 17 handgun at the scene. It lacked the orange tip indicating it was a toy gun.
The three officers involved, and their time with the UPD, are:
* Patrick Husnay, six years
* Bryce Patterson, four years
* Andrew Citriniti, two and a half years

## Aftermath

The officers involved were immediately placed on indefinite paid leave. The New York State Attorney General's office opened an investigation, as state law requires any time an officer may be responsible for a death. The Attorney General's investigation is expected to take months to complete. The UPD also opened an internal investigation.
Overnight, a bystander video of the shooting spread among Uticans on social media. Nyah Mway's family stated that, despite police notifying them that he was in the hospital, they did not understand what had happened until they watched the bystander video. The UPD released bodycam footage the next day.
Utica Mayor Mike Galime and Police Chief Mark Williams held a press conference the morning of the next day, but they ended the meeting once attendees began angrily shouting at them. Later that day a vigil was held at the site of Nyah Mway's death, attended by community members and Buddhist and Christian clergy. After the vigil, a group of protesters gathered at the Utica Police station around 10:30 pm. Police were wearing riot gear, but no violence occurred. The protesters dispersed around 11:30 pm. On June 30, Galime took questions at a church in Utica with a large Karen congregation. He stated that he did not believe the shooting was caused by racism or that the officers acted out of anger. While not as chaotic as the previous day's press conference, Galime's statements failed to satisfy the attendees. On July 1, a group rallied at City Hall during a meeting of the Utica Common Council and marched to the Utica state office building.
On July 2, Nyah Mway's family announced that they had obtained legal representation, Julia P. Kuan and Earl S. Ward of the firm Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel. Kuan and Ward had previously represented the family of Tamir Rice in their wrongful death suit against the city of Cleveland, Ohio.
In the wake of the shooting, Utica's July 4 fireworks display was postponed. Nyah Mway's funeral and burial were held on July 6.
On July 13, Karen community leaders held a march along Utica's Memorial Parkway to Mohawk Valley Community College, with nearly a thousand people in attendance. There they read a list of demands. The demands included an official apology and admission of wrongdoing by the mayor and police department, the termination of the three officers involved, for the city to cover the costs of Nyah Mway's funeral and burial as well as mental health expenses for his family, and a civilian oversight board.
Near the end of July, the UPD released an incident briefing video. The eight-minute video combined the officers' bodycam footage with footage from robberies earlier in June and narration by a UPD lieutenant. The family's lawyers and local community leaders criticized the video for its focus on the possibly unrelated robberies.
The Karen community attended a Common Council meeting on August 7, where they read their demands and criticized city government's response to the shooting. A few council members expressed sympathy while noting that little could be done during the ongoing investigations. The next day, a block party was held to commemorate Nyah Mway's birthday.
On September 17, Nyah Mway's family announced that his mother had filed a notice of claim against the city of Utica. This filing preserves the right to later file a lawsuit. Activists attended another common council meeting the next day, receiving largely the same response from the council as the previous month.

## Responses

Karen-American organizations outside Utica released statements condemning the killing, with one describing it as an instance of police brutality and gun violence, and another as systemic racism within law enforcement. The Utica branch of the NAACP also expressed support for Nyah Mway's family and the local Karen community. Stop AAPI Hate posted on Twitter that they were "heartbroken" by the shooting, calling Nyah Mway "the latest victim of police violence against AA/PI communities" and calling for police accountability.
The New York Times noted that, as is common in immigrant communities, activism for Nyah Mway was led by younger Karen activists in their teens and twenties who grew up in the United States and spoke English well. Meanwhile, older members of the community, who lived through decades of violence in Myanmar, feared retribution for speaking out against city government. These older Karens supported the movement but played a less central role.
A CBS News report noted that since from 2014 to 2024, more than 300 people had been shot and killed by police while holding replica guns, of which 19 of those were minors. It also stated that police, lawmakers, and activists all struggled to deal with the issue of realistic replica guns.
A local leader, speaking on July 9, said that in "war-torn" Myanmar, children were taught that "when you see the military or law enforcement, you run or you die", and suggested that could explain Nyah Mway's flight from the police. Another local Karen activist asked if they had "run from one persecutor to another".