1 dead in police-involved shooting in East Northport, N.Y.
EAST NORTHPORT, N.Y. -- Suffolk County Police are investigating a deadly shooting involving one of their officers.
Detectives from the Homicide Squad said the shooting happened Tuesday night on Mander Lane in East Northport.
Homeowners huddled in dismay after seeing Alan Weber, their 54-year-old neighbor, run from house to house, try to open doors, grab mail, leave rosary beads dotted with blood on a porch, and direct nonexistent traffic. So they called 911.
"I just wish there were better protocols in place to have taken care of him earlier in the day when we said to them things are going to escalate," Natalie Kaufman said.
At 8:44 p.m. on Tuesday, things did escalate. In his basement, Weber lunged at two police officers.
"The officers did use a Taser first. They did ask the subject to drop the swords. He had, once again, a fencing mask on as well," Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said. "I was able to review the body-worn cameras this morning and at this time I believe it's a justified shooting."
Off camera, neighbors described what they saw and heard.
"Cops shot this man in his own home," one person said. "It wasn't one shot. We heard six shots. There has to be an alternate path of what occurred," another said.
Neighbors said they observed Weber's bouts with depression and aggression since he split with his wife and children. They claimed they called police on multiple occasions for psychiatric intervention.
"This man has been behaving erratically for the past couple of weeks. He was off his meds. Why didn't they take him in before it escalated?" a neighbor said.
In a separate case, attorney Kenneth Mollins is suing Suffolk County Police for shooting at his mentally ill client while doing a wellness check.
"Police in Suffolk County clearly, unequivocally, have no idea what to do in a situation when dealing with someone with mental health issues," Mollins said.
The shooting has left Weber's neighbors are unsettled.
"You have to be vigilant. That's it, vigilant of looking around and see is somebody needs some kind of help," East Northport homeowner Leela James said.
The investigation is ongoing.
The officer who fired his service revolver is a crisis intervention cop.