The New York Police Department has wrongly accused a 15-year-old teenager of being the suspected shooter at a Brooklyn parade. The West Indian American Day parade is a yearly event held during Labor Day weekend. In 2024, a shooting left one person dead and four people injured.

Camden Lee left football practice before attending the parade with a teammate, he told the Associated Press. When the shooting occurred, his friend was grazed and was carried out of the crowd on a stretcher.

Days after the incident on Sept. 19, law enforcement published a photograph on social media of 15-year-old Camden Lee. They were accusing him of having “discharged a firearm” at the event.

“I see the NYPD logo. I see me. I see ‘suspect wanted for murder,’” Lee said in an interview with the Associated Press. “I couldn’t believe what was happening. Then everything went blurry.”

Lee’s mother, Chee Chee Brock, contacted an attorney and eventually set up a meeting at Brooklyn’s 77th precinct station. There, they were told Lee isn’t a suspect. 

“They conceded they got it wrong,” attorney Kenneth Montgomery said. “But these officers were so cavalier about it. It was like they were playing a game with a kid’s life.”

Despite the clarification, the NYPD had already widely shared the photograph of Lee on social media and to media outlets. Law enforcement told outlets to stop sharing the photograph, but they have yet to make an official statement regarding the fact that they wrongly accused Lee of being the suspected shooter. Instead, they shared that the shooting was potentially gang-related and gave a description that did not match Lee’s.

“I used to have a lot of trust in the NYPD and how they do things,” Brock said (her older son even recently joined law enforcement). “But I raised my kids to admit when they made a mistake. If you can blame an innocent kid for murder, what else can you get away with?”

Lee has been receiving death threats online from people who still believe he had a role in the shooting. His mother says that her son now lives in fear because the NYPD did not make an official retraction. Brock moved her children outside of the city to keep Lee safe. Since their return to Brooklyn, she has forbidden him from circulating outside on his own.

“As a mom, the No. 1 thing I’m scared of is losing my kids to the streets or the jail system,” she told the Associated Press. “So he doesn’t have freedom now. When he goes to the corner store, I time him.”

In December, police upped the reward to $10,000 for anyone who has information about the suspect. Although they did not republish Lee’s photograph, it still affected the teenager’s daily life. Some media outlets ran his picture again and he considered cutting his hair and buying new clothes to become unrecognizable.

“For the photo to come out again, it brought it all back to the start,” he said. “My mom was just thinking of letting me go on the train again.”

“It takes me to a dark place,” Lee added. “I don’t feel like myself anymore. I don’t have the opportunity to explain my side of the story. Everyone is so fixed on this one image of me: murderer.”

When the Associated Press’s first story dropped last week, Lee’s case was later covered by NY1 on Sunday as he and his mother were interviewed.

Then, the NYPD issued an apology, which stated, “The NYPD identified a person of interest who was on the scene before, during, and after the incident, which is supported by video evidence and witness accounts. Social media posts in September mistakenly stated that he was wanted for the fatal shooting, rather than stating that he was a person of interest,” the statement reads. “The NYPD should have immediately corrected this misstatement. We apologize for the error and will continue to seek justice for the victims of this shooting.”

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