The Utica Police Department said the fatal shooting occurred amid a foot chase between Mway and three officers. The officers saw what they believed to be a handgun on Mway, according to a statement released by the department on Facebook. Mway, who graduated from middle school just two days earlier, was then tackled to the ground before an officer, later identified by police as Patrick Husnay, discharged his firearm. The weapon on Mway was later determined to be a pellet gun.
Efforts to contact relatives of Mway were unsuccessful, but on a GoFundMe page set up by his family he was remembered as "an outgoing kid who loved to be outside biking and playing." The family said he was "a good kid" who "has never gotten in trouble with law enforcement before."
Mway and his family came to the U.S. from Myanmar, also known as Burma, as Karen refugees over eight years ago, according to the GoFundMe page. Over the years, thousands of Karen refugees have settled in Utica to flee ethnic and religious persecution by the Myanmar government.