Pace football player shot and killed by police

THORNWOOD -- Investigators in Westchester County are sorting out details from a deadly police-involved shooting that left a Pace football player dead and his passenger and two officers injured.

It was a very sad and somber mood on the Pace University campus Sunday night.

Students came together to remember one of their own who was killed in a shooting that is raising many questions.


In the glow of candlelight, students moved through campus, privately grieving the loss of 20-year-old Danroy Henry, known to friends as DJ.

Henry was a junior football player from Cambridge, Massachusetts.

"We really do miss him," one student said. "This is just a huge shock to all of us. He was a great guy."

His loss was deeply felt by the students who knew him.

They came together in a private vigil that began at the campus fitness center, moved to the football field and ended at the student center.

"Not only are we experiencing this great loss, but we absolutely can't understand how this could happen to our son," Henry's father said.

He says he wants answers to the early Sunday morning shooting that happened outside Finnegan's Grill in Thornwood.

"He just played a great game. His coach called him today a man of high moral character. His teammates all loved him," Henry's father said.

According to Mount Pleasant police, unruly patrons had gathered in Finnegan's parking lot.

Police said they approached a car parked in a fire lane. When an officer knocked on the car window, the driver sped off. An officer tried stopping the vehicle but it accelerated and he ended up on the hood.

As the vehicle passed by, another officer was hit by the car. Both officers then opened fire.

"That vehicle struck that officer. He was propelled onto the hood," Mount Pleasant Police Chief Louis Alagno said. "The Pleasantville officer fired into the vehicle. This was the officer that was clinging to the top of the car. The car subsequently struck a parked Mount Pleasant police car and came to rest."

A passenger in the car was wounded. The officers involved were also treated for injuries.
"We extend the deepest sympathies of our community to Mr. Henry's family and friends. We are working with the police investigation and as appropriate will share more information when it becomes available," Pace University President Stephen J. Friedman said in a statement.

Police are now focusing on the disturbance, which continued, they say, after the shooting.

Police are also trying to determine what was occurring inside the vehicle as officers attempted to stop it from leaving the shopping center.

The two police officers were treated at the hospital for broken bones and other injuries. The passenger and another person were treated for trauma.