On January 24, 2004, 19-year-old Timothy Stansbury Jr. was shot on the rooftop of the Louis Armstrong Houses in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Stansbury, a high school senior who worked part-time at McDonald’s, was with two friends and using the roof as a shortcut to get to a party in an adjacent building when he was struck by a single bullet and later died at a hospital.

The shot was fired by NYPD Officer Richard S. Neri Jr. during a vertical patrol around 1:00 a.m. Neri testified that he drew his Glock 19 and was startled when Stansbury pushed open a rooftop door, causing an unintentional discharge. Then-Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the initial facts suggested no justification for the shooting. A grand jury later declined to indict on charges of criminally negligent homicide and manslaughter, ruling the shooting an accident.

The department imposed disciplinary penalties on Officer Neri, including a 30-day suspension without pay and removal of his firearm before reassignment to a desk position. The city settled with Stansbury’s family for $2 million. Does anyone have memories of the Louis Armstrong Houses or that night that could shed light on what happened?