Body cam footage released in fatal police shooting in Canandaigua

The Ontario County Sheriff's Office has released body-worn camera footage from a February incident in which law enforcement officers from two agencies shot and killed a Pennsylvania man.

According to the Sheriff's Office, a brief pursuit led authorities from East Bloomfield into Canandaigua, where police shot and killed Brandon M. Zurkan, 31, of Warren, Pennsylvania following an encounter between with police on Feb. 28.

Officials have said that they began their pursuit after a 911 caller reported a driver firing shots from his vehicle on state Route 5 in East Bloomfield. A deputy in a marked patrol car intercepted the sedan on Route 5 in the town of Canandaigua.

More: Police fatally shoot man in Canandaigua during investigation. What we know now

Zurkan continued driving east into the city, according to police. He drove erratically, including on lawns and through at least one red traffic light, and fired multiple shots from the car. The pursuit ended when Zurkan drove through a fence and struck a curb.

Police said that Zurkan got out of the car, gun in hand, and that four officers – two deputies and two Canandaigua police officers – fired at Zurkan after he pointed his gun at police.

The video footage shows a time-synced composite of video captured by the four officers. It was released as part of an update on the OSCO's investigation of the case, which it says is now closed.

Since 2015, the New York Attorney General's Office is charged with investigating all incidents where a police officer may have caused the death of another person. That investigation is ongoing. On average, it has taken a little more than a year for the AG's office to report its findings in such cases.

What does the video show?

The body-worn cam footage shows officers converging on Zurkan after he crashed his car near the intersection of Main Street and Green Street in Canandaigua. Almost immediately, they see that the man is armed and begin calling out to him to drop his weapon.

∎ WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT - See the video footage as released by police

Roughly nine minutes elapsed between the time officers arrived on the scene and when the shots were fired, and during most of that time they can be observed urging the man to drop the gun he was holding.

"Come on bud, put the gun down. We don't want to hurt you," an officer calls out. "Just put the gun down and we can talk."

"He's pointing the gun at his face," another officer can be heard telling a dispatcher over his radio.

The officers continue urging the man to put his gun down as he moves around in the street. He doesn't appear to respond to any of their commands. It's unclear from the footage if Zurkan ever responded verbally. The standoff continues for several minutes as officers take shelter behind adjacent buildings.

"Do not point it at any of us. Just put it down. We don't want to hurt you," the officer calls out again. "Whatever is going on, we can work this out. We can get you help."

Zurkan does not appear to respond. At one point, an officer can be heard muttering "what the f--- is this guy doing?"

After several more minutes, the man begins walking towards officers with the gun still in hand, despite their pleas for him not to. They also urge him not to raise his weapon and point it at him.

Video footage from all four of the officers appears to show the man ignoring those commands and raising his arm as he moves slowly toward them. When he does, the officers open fire, striking the subject. The man falls and appears unresponsive when officers converge and place him into handcuffs.

It is not clear from the video how many shots the officers fired.

In the video provided by the police, the audio was removed after the officers started shooting and images of Zurkan on the street were blurred while officers secured the area and paramedics provided assistance. This occurred within about three minutes of the shots being fired. The police also redacted the rest of the video, which runs for another 30 minutes, stating that it is not relevant to the purpose of the media release.

What else have police said?

In a statement accompanying the video release, Sheriff David J. Cirencione said investigators had spoken to dozens of witnesses in addition to searching Zurkan's cell phone and his vehicle. They found that Zurkan had applied for jobs in Buffalo, Syracuse and the Southern Tier in the week prior to the incident, but do not know what brought him to Ontario County.

The investigation also offered no clues as to why Zurkan was allegedly firing gunshots from his car that evening.

In addition to the .45 caliber handgun Zurkan was armed with, police say they found a loaded shotgun in his vehicle, along with ammunition for both weapons. Both firearms were legally purchased by Zurkan in Pennsylvania, according to the statement.

Five spent .45 caliber shell casings were located on South Pearl Street in the City of Canandaigua in the area where the deputy following Zurkan indicated he heard shots being fired. The statement says those casings were consistent with the ammunition in the handgun Zurkan possessed during the incident.

Police noted in their statement that Zurkan’s criminal history includes a controlled substance conviction from Warren County, PA in 2011. They also found several bottles of pills in his vehicle, all in containers prescribed to him.

Contact reporter Sean Lahman at slahman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @seanlahman. 

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Body cam video of Canandaigua police shooting of Brandon Zurkan released