Agostino Jubrey, 21, died on the afternoon of Friday, July 22, from injuries sustained in a shootout with Colonie police on Wednesday, July 20.
There was a long series of events that led to the shootout, which included a hit-and-run and the dismantling of a drug lab.
The incident started in the town of Kinderhook where Jubrey was returning from visiting a friend at the Austerliz campgrounds in Columbia County. According to New York State Police Troop K, his friend had allegedly set up a drug lab in a tent, creating what Colonie police said were ecstasy-like drugs.
According to police reports, Jubrey hit a motorcyclist with his vehicle on his way back and fled the scene. The motorcyclist suffered internal injuries that were not considered to be life threatening, according to Colonie police.
According to police reports, Jubrey then returned to the camp where he and a fellow camper disposed of some of the materials in a trash receptacle behind an apartment complex in the Town of Ghent, at which point the landlord of the complex discovered them and informed them he was calling the police.
The accomplice allegedly loaded other material into the back of a vehicle with three others, police said. That car, whose passengers did not include Jubrey, was subsequently searched during a traffic stop for a no seatbelt violation, during which the trooper detected a strong odor of chemicals coming from the vehicle and observed the chemicals and other materials used to manufacture drugs. The suspects were taken to the Livingston Barracks, where they were interviewed and released pending further investigation and laboratory results.
Just before 7 p.m., Daniel Belles, a five-and-a-half-year veteran of the Colonie police force, and Toby VanAlstyne, a Columbia County sheriff’s deputy, arrived at 2 Leach Ave., after plates matching the vehicle involved in the hit-and-run were traced to that address. Belles’ car was the first to pull up to the house in an off-center position in the driveway while VanAlstyne’s car was still turning on to the road. Jubrey was observed pointing a semi-automatic .45 caliber gun at his mother and stepfather, Randall Booth, after what was described as `a slight disagreement` between Jubrey and the two, said police.
According to police reports, Jubrey had already shot Booth, 50, in the hand before the police had arrived. Colonie Police Chief Steve Heider said at a press conference on Thursday, July 21, the two responding police officers didn’t know this at the time.
Jubrey immediately turned around when Belles’ car pulled up and fired two shots, with one bullet hitting the driver’s side door, just above the wheel of VanAlstyne’s car and another over the deputy’s roof into the house across the street while the residents were still home. He continued to fire at the two officers before getting into his vehicle, according to police reports.
Heider said Jubrey backed his car into Belles’ car, became stuck, but still fired shots through the passenger side window. Belles exited his vehicle and returned fire from nearly 13 feet away, according to Heider. Jubrey and Belles exchanged 13 rounds between the two of them before Jubrey was shot in the head, said Heider. Ballistics and forensics have yet to determine which gun the bullet came from. By the time VanAlstyne had pulled out his rifle, the incident was over.
Neither of the officers was shot.
Heider said Jubrey had fired off eight of the nine bullets his gun was capable of holding. He also said two .32 caliber revolvers were found in the front seat, one loaded and one not, and police found a long survival knife on Jubrey.
Jubrey was taken to the Albany Medical Center where he was treated for his wounds. Colonie Police Lt. Robert Winn said he was in stable condition before going into surgery that evening. The following day, he was in critical condition and on life support before he was pronounced dead at 3:45 p.m. on Friday, July 22.
Heider said lives were saved due to the `heroic actions` taken by Belles, who will be on paid-leave for the next few days as he is somewhat shook up over what transpired.
`I was at a conference all week, and one of the main topics was the increase in officer shootings in 2010,` said Heider at the press conference. `They are actually up nearly 15 percent across the country and many of them are in this type of incident where officers are responding to what they believe is a report-type generated call and literally an ambush takes place. What we believe happened here was the officers actually stopped an ambush initially and then became the subject of an ambush in the aftermath.`
Jubrey was a convicted felon so he was not legally allowed to possess weapons, according to Heider. He did add that one of the weapons was defaced, though.
According to Winn, Jubrey had a laundry list of run-ins with police. He was convicted of stealing an AK-47, two incidents where he was arrested for selling marijuana, a DWI, criminal mischief, criminal tampering and obstructing governmental administration. There was also a pending charge of his involvement in a domestic dispute where he allegedly assaulted his girlfriend.
The investigation on the part of the Colonie Police Department, the Columbia County Sheriff’s Department and the New York State Police is still ongoing. Calls made to troop K have not been returned. Albany County District Attorney David Soares said Colonie police have given the family of Jubrey some space after the incident, considering what had happened. He said interviews will take place in the future.
According to Colonie police, the last time a suspect was ever fired at by an officer from the department was in 1998 and the last time a member of the Columbia County Sheriff’s Department was fired at only a few years ago. Soares said it demonstrates how rare it is for these types of incidents to occur in the Capital District.
`I don’t know how much the public could appreciate just how little this kind of interaction goes on in law enforcement,` he said. `You would think with all the issues that exist, whether it’s in Albany County or a different county, there would be many more interactions where law enforcement had drawn weapons on possible subjects. It happens so infrequently that it demonstrates the professionalism in law enforcement in deescalating situations and responding appropriately and not always responding with deadly, physical force.“