Syracuse, NY — Two teenagers were shot to death Wednesday morning by an Onondaga County sheriff’s deputy after the stolen car they were riding in nearly ran over the deputy, according to Sheriff Toby Shelley.
The two killed were 15 and 17 years old, according to two sources.
The teens were shot and killed by a single deputy who fired into the moving vehicle near the Midler Meadows mobile home park in DeWitt, Shelley said at an afternoon news conference. That vehicle was suspected of being involved in two overnight burglaries, he said.
The deputy was alone when the driver of the stolen vehicle tried to run over him, Shelley said.
The two teens were killed by three shots fired into the vehicle by the deputy, Shelley said. The sheriff referred to a witness’s video that he said showed that the deputy didn’t have time to get out of the way.
The witness’s video has not been made public. The deputy, who has not yet been publicly identified, was wearing a body camera but didn’t have it turned on at the time of the shooting. Shelley said the deputy didn’t have time to turn on the camera.
The deputy “had nowhere to flee to. This whole thing happens in seconds. He had no options,” Shelley said.
The deputy was not injured, the sheriff said.
The chain of events started around 9 p.m. Tuesday, when two vehicles were stolen from the area around James Street and Hixson Avenue in Syracuse, Shelley said. One was a Kia and one was a Hyundai.
Those stolen vehicles were connected to a 4 a.m. burglary of a smoke shop in Oneida, the sheriff said.
An alarm went off at OQ Smokeline store in the Glenwood Plaza, according to Oneida police. Officers found the side door of the store smashed, police said. Surveillance footage shows two groups arriving in a dark van and white sedan and then entering through the smashed door, police said.
Items were taken from the store and then the two vehicles left, police said. It was the same group involved in similar incidents later in Onondaga County, police said.
Wednesday morning, the same vehicles were seen in a burglary at a smoke shop on East Molloy Road in DeWitt, Shelley said.
The burglary call was at the Prince Smoke Shop on 176 E. Molloy Rd, according to the source, who had been involved in a briefing on the matter.
The deputy who eventually opened fire was in the middle of investigating the East Molloy Road burglary when someone called 911 to report suspicious activity at the Midler Meadows mobile home park, Shelley said.
The 6:18 a.m. caller reported three or four males wearing dark clothing moving items between a sedan and a dark-colored minivan at the mobile home park. The deputy responded to the mobile home park, knowing that the vehicles the caller mentioned matched the description of those seen on video from the smoke shop burglary, Shelley said.
Moments after arriving, Shelley said, one of the suspects’ vehicles tried to run over the deputy. The deputy pulled out his gun and fired three times, the sheriff said.
Both suspect vehicles fled the scene. One of them hasn’t been found. The other was located back near the location of the initial car burglaries, when it crashed shortly before 7 a.m. on Mooney Avenue in Eastwood, Shelley said.
There, one occupant was found dead and another was near death, the sheriff said. The second occupant died shortly after a deputy attempted life-saving efforts, Shelley said.
A third person in the vehicle with the deceased has not been found.
Shelley did not provide the ages of the two deceased teens, saying their identities hadn’t yet been confirmed.
Nevertheless, Shelley said deputies had been in touch with family members of the deceased.
The sheriff said that his office had also been in contact with the county district attorney and the state Attorney General’s Office, which is tasked with looking into deaths caused by police officers across New York.
The AG’s office confirmed Wednesday afternoon that it was doing a “preliminary assessment” of the situation. The office was directed by the state in April 2021 to investigate all fatal incidents that involve police officers.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article reported the teen’s ages as both 15 years old. One was 15 and one was 17, according to two sources.