Freeport Man Guilty of Weapons Possession After Pointing Gun at Police Officers

Frantz Byer pointed loaded revolver at two officers before being shot six times

MINEOLA, NY – Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced today that a jury has found Frantz Byer guilty of possessing and pointing a loaded handgun at police officers on a Freeport street in July 2007. The officers were forced to discharge their service weapons, striking Byer six times in the thigh, back and buttocks.

Byer, 22, of Freeport, has been convicted of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree and Menacing a Police Officer. The jury deliberated for less than a day before reaching their unanimous verdict. Byer is due back in court Monday for a bail hearing. He faces a maximum of 15 years in prison.

Rice said that in the early morning hours of July 14, 2007, Byer and a group of friends were walking eastbound on Leonard Avenue in Freeport. A resident called police and said that a man was carrying what looked like a handgun on the sidewalk in front of his home. Two Freeport police officers arrived at the scene within minutes and approached Byer, who matched the 911 caller’s description.  The officers ordered Byer to freeze and he began walking swiftly up the street before breaking into a run, as one of the officers ran alongside him in the street.

Byer eventually stopped in front of a residence on Leonard Avenue and began to retrieve something from a small black pouch. After Byer pointed what the officer believed to be a black handgun at him, he fired seven shots at Byer. The second officer, who had kept pace behind Byer when he started running, fired twice at Byer when he saw the handgun pointed at his fellow officer. A shattered black revolver was recovered at the scene. Testimony from ballistics and DNA experts at trial established that the weapon had been struck by a bullet and that Byer’s DNA was found on the bullets and the shattered pieces of the gun. A trigger finger injury sustained by Byer during the incident further corroborated the forensic and police officer testimony during trial.

In finding Byer guilty, the jury unanimously rejected defense claims that Byer was unarmed at the time of the shooting, and that the officers planted the shattered revolver in the moments following the incident.

Assistant District Attorney Dan Looney of the DA’s Major Offense Bureau is handling the case for the District Attorney’s Office. Byer is being represented by Frederick Brewington, Esq.