Newly released body-camera footage shows the tense final minutes of a three-hour standoff on Kosciuszko Street in Bed-Stuy that ended with 48-year-old Lamin Simons shot and killed and an NYPD officer wounded in the leg. The video, made public this week, captures the moment officers breached a Brooklyn brownstone after Simons allegedly fired a gun inside, touching off a burst of gunfire in a narrow second-floor stairwell.
The footage was released Thursday by the New York State Attorney General's Office of Special Investigation, known as OSI, which is independently investigating the shooting, according to News12 New York. The office said the footage was released as part of its ongoing review and that it has not made a determination in the case. OSI is legally required under New York Executive Law Section 70-b to investigate every civilian death potentially caused by a law enforcement officer in the state, whether the officer was on- or off-duty and regardless of whether the deceased was armed, per the New York Attorney General's Office.
A Three-Hour Standoff Before the Breach
The incident began around 5:45 a.m. on June 19 at 190 Kosciuszko Street, when patrol officers responding to the address initially retreated to call in specialized barricade resources, according to the same release. NYPD Emergency Service Unit detectives did not execute their tactical breach until 8:52 a.m., nearly three hours later, after officers say Simons discharged his gun inside the home. Body-cam audio captured officers repeatedly instructing Simons to put down his weapon, with one shouting, “Stop! Drop the gun!” as they attempted to enter the residence, per News12's report.
During the standoff, Simons' wife and son safely escaped the home and told officers he had a history of mental illness, while police instructed an elderly couple trapped on the second floor to lock themselves in their bedroom, according to a briefing detailed by New York City's mayoral office. An NYPD drone surveilling the home observed Simons holding a handgun in his left hand while he threw household items — including a microwave, a lamp, pots, and pans — out a rear window toward officers staged in the backyard, the mayor's office said.
Gunfire in a Narrow Stairwell
When the tactical breach finally came, four ESU detectives fired a combined 37 rounds in the second-floor stairwell, according to footage analysis shared on YouTube. Simons was struck during the exchange and was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced deceased, News12 reported. State investigators recovered two firearms at the scene inside the brownstone following the breach, the Attorney General's Office said.
One ESU detective was also struck, suffering a gunshot wound to the leg that required surgery. He has since been discharged from the hospital and has recovered, according to the Attorney General's Office. Early reporting at the time of the shooting had only confirmed that the officer was hospitalized.
Why the Footage Came Out Now
The Attorney General's Office follows a protocol of releasing body-camera footage during ongoing OSI investigations specifically to increase public transparency, without waiting for a final investigative report or any determination of criminal liability, according to the office's published OSI procedures. That means Thursday's release does not signal any conclusion about whether the officers' actions were justified. OSI says it continues to review the case, and no findings have been announced.
The shooting took place within the NYPD's 79th Precinct, which covers Bedford-Stuyvesant and recorded 80 major crime complaints through late July, ranking 25th among city precincts and marking a 1.2% drop from the 81 complaints logged over the same period in 2025, according to precinct data compiled by NYPDCrime.com. The case remains under independent state review, with no timeline yet given for when OSI will complete its investigation into Simons' death.
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