In the fall of 2014, a domestic dispute in a Brooklyn apartment building escalated into a tragedy that claimed the life of a man attempting to help a friend in distress. Rafael Laureano, a 51-year-old Hispanic male, was known as a generous man and a father of four who had a passion for bodybuilding. On the evening of September 29, 2014, he received a call for help from his friend, Kathy Russo. Her ex-boyfriend, Francisco Carvajal, had shown up at her apartment and was becoming violent.
Laureano rushed to the scene to aid his friend and her two young children.
When police arrived at the seventh-floor apartment on Ocean Parkway, they found a chaotic and dangerous situation unfolding. Carvajal had armed himself with a knife and was attempting to break down the door of the bathroom where Russo and her children had taken refuge. Accounts from the time state that police enlisted Laureano's help to break down the apartment's main door. Once inside, despite a sergeant's attempt to hold him back, Laureano rushed in to confront Carvajal. In the close quarters of the apartment, as Carvajal advanced with the knife, officers opened fire.
In the hail of bullets that followed, both Francisco Carvajal and Rafael Laureano were fatally wounded. Initially, police reports suggested that Laureano had been stabbed by Carvajal. However, the medical examiner's report later clarified that Laureano had not been stabbed and had instead been killed by a single police bullet that struck him in the back. The New York Police Department subsequently stated that Laureano was "inadvertently" shot during the confrontation.
In the aftermath of the shooting, Laureano's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city of New York and the NYPD for $25 million, alleging negligence. The family contended that police should not have allowed a civilian to be involved in such a volatile situation. After years of litigation, the lawsuit was settled in June 2017 for $1.6 million. The family's lawyer stated that they chose to settle after learning that the shooting of Laureano was not intentional. The officers involved were not publicly identified or charged in connection with the accidental shooting.
