PATERSON, N.J. (1010 WINS) — Paterson police officers shot and killed a man colleagues identified as an anti-violence worker suffering a mental health crisis on Friday.
Officers opened fire on the man around 12:30 p.m. near the intersection of Mill and Ellison streets, according to the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office.
The AG did not identify the man, but two different anti-violence groups identified him as 31-year-old Najee Seabrooks, according to a report by NJ.com.
“Najee dedicated his life to reducing gun violence in Paterson and worked every day as a high-risk violence interventionist alongside his colleagues at the Paterson Healing Collective,” said the New Jersey Violence Intervention and Prevention Coalition in a statement.
“It is deeply distressing to hear that, in the midst of a mental health crisis, Najee’s team, his family, was not allowed to do the work they were trained to do,” the group continued. “When he needed his community the most, he was denied the help he required, and the police response failed him.”
Paterson Healing Collective Executive Director Liza Chowdhury also denounced Paterson officers for their handling of the situation.
“Here’s a young man that dedicated his life to changing his community and when he needed a mental health response in a crisis intervention response, instead he’s met with force,” Chowdury told NJ.com.
Seabrooks, who has a young daughter, reportedly worked mentoring youth and mediating violence for the Paterson Healing Collective, a hospital-based violence intervention program in Passaic County.
The AG’s office did not share the circumstances of the shooting.
Related
Related
Related
