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Questions remain in death of Warren man

Few additional details have emerged regarding the fatal, police-involved shooting of a Warren man in Ontario County, N.Y., this week.

Brandon M. Zurkan, 31, of Warren, was fatally shot by police after he allegedly raised a handgun toward them at the end of an incident that began late Tuesday, Feb. 28, in Canandaigua, N.Y., according to the Finger Lakes Times.

Zurkan was a 2009 graduate of Warren Area High School.

There is no evidence of criminal activity more serious than summary traffic offenses in Zurkan’s Pennsylania court history. Officers in New York said he had no criminal record there.

“At this time, we are not releasing any information regarding Mr. Zurkan as to not interfere with any investigations the N.Y. authorities are undertaking,” City of Warren Police Chief Joe Sproveri said Friday. “I have been in contact with the Ontario County Sheriff’s Office and the Canandaigua Police Department regarding the incident. At this point in time, the incident that occurred in their jurisdiction does not appear to be linked to anything that has taken place here.”

The Warren County District Attorney’s Office offered “no comment” on Thursday.

Zurkan had a total of three traffic tickets in 2015 and 2021 — two in Warren County and one in Erie County.

Then, there were no offenses until this week.

On Monday, police in Tullytown Borough, Bucks County, cited Zurkan for five summary traffic violations.

Tullytown is northeast of Philadelphia along the Delaware River and the New Jersey border. It is more than a five-hour drive from both Warren and Canandaigua.

As of press time, Tullytown police have not responded to a request for comment. The Ontario County Sheriff’s Office indicated it was aware of the traffic violations in Tullytown.

Initial details of the incident and information from a Wednesday press conference related to the alleged incident are courtesy of the Finger Lakes Times.

Police have not established what Zurkan was doing in Ontario County, police said at the press conference.

Officers began looking for Zurkan’s vehicle after a caller reported hearing what could have been a gunshot coming from the car.

After police located the vehicle, they allegedly tried to pull Zurkan over. He did not stop, according to police, and led police on a chase during which he allegedly fired multiple shots from the vehicle.

The pursuit ended when Zurkan’s vehicle was disabled after it hit a curb.

Police said he emerged from the car with a gun in his hand and started walking toward them. Police said they tried to de-escalate the situation — telling Zurkan to drop the gun for about eight minutes before he raised it in their direction. Four officers fired at Zurkan. He was pronounced dead at a Canandaigua hospital minutes later.

In addition to the handgun police said he had in his hand when he got out of his car, police allegedly found another handgun, ammunition, and a fully-loaded magazine during a search of the vehicle.

On Friday, the New York Attorney General’s Office announced that it was conducting a special investigation into the case.

“Pursuant to New York State Executive Law… Office of Special Investigations assesses every incident reported to it where a police officer or a peace officer, including a corrections officer, may have caused the death of a person, by an act or omission,” according to a Friday release from the Attorney General’s Office. “If OSI’s assessment indicates an officer caused the death, OSI proceeds to conduct a full investigation of the incident.”

Although he could not confirm that there was body-camera video of the incident, on Friday, Ontario County District Attorney James Ritts said that all four of the major agencies in the county utilize body-worn cameras.

He declined further details because the case is being investigated by the Attorney General’s Office.

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