{"id":183994,"date":"2026-04-03T00:03:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T00:03:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/183994\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T00:03:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T00:03:34","slug":"rohingya-refugees-death-in-new-york-ruled-a-homicide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/183994\/","title":{"rendered":"Rohingya refugee\u2019s death in New York ruled a homicide"},"content":{"rendered":"

The death of nearly blind Rohingya refugee, who\u2019s body was found in Buffalo, New York<\/a>, five days after Customs and Border Protection officers left him outside a closed coffee shop, was ruled a homicide by the county medical examiner.<\/p>\n

Nurul Amin Shah Alam, 56, who came to the United States from Myanmar in 2024, was found dead on a Buffalo street on Feb. 24. He went missing after the CBP officers left him outside a closed Tim Hortons coffee shop on a frigid night earlier that month.<\/p>\n

Shah Alam died of a perforated ulcer caused by hypothermia and dehydration, according to Dr. Gale R. Burstein, the Erie County Department of Health commissioner.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis\u00a0was\u00a0basically\u00a0a\u00a0stress\u00a0ulcer,\u201d Burstein said during a news conference Wednesday evening. \u201cThis is actually precipitated by body\u2019s\u00a0physiologic\u00a0response\u00a0to\u00a0severe\u00a0stress,\u00a0and\u00a0that\u00a0stress\u00a0was felt to\u00a0be\u00a0hypothermia,\u00a0being\u00a0in\u00a0very\u00a0cold\u00a0temperatures\u00a0and\u00a0dehydration,\u00a0so\u00a0no\u00a0access\u00a0to\u00a0liquids.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shah Alam\u2019s cause of death has drawn outrage from officials in New York and across the country. Gov. Kathy Hochul, D-N.Y., called it \u201ccruel\u201d and \u201cinhumane,\u201d demanding the CBP officers involved in the incident be held accountable.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a blind man who could not speak English left at a closed coffee shop with slippers on on a cold, cold night in Buffalo,\u201d Hochul said in a video statement<\/a>, \u201cleft there by Donald Trump\u2019s Department of Homeland Security ICE agents.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe\u00a0cruelty\u00a0and\u00a0inhumanity of these actions should shock the conscience of every American,\u201d the governor added.<\/p>\n

The Erie County district attorney is investigating the death, Hochul said. New York Attorney General Letitia James said<\/a> her office is also investigating \u201cthe circumstances and treatment\u201d that led to Shah Alam\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

The medical examiner said the death was caused by \u201cnegligent\u00a0acts\u00a0or\u00a0omissions\u00a0or\u00a0inaction,\u201d Burstein said, noting that \u201cusing the word homicide to describe the manner of death\u201d is a clinical medical label and bears no legal weight. Only a court of law has the power to prove criminal intent to cause harm or death.<\/p>\n

\tRecommended<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tSydney Carruth<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tSydney Carruth is a breaking news reporter covering national politics and policy for MS NOW. You can send her tips from a non-work device on Signal at SydneyCarruth.46 or follow her work on X and Bluesky.\t\t<\/p>\n

\"MS<\/p>\n

\u00a9\u00a02026 Versant Media, LLC<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The death of nearly blind Rohingya refugee, who\u2019s body was found in Buffalo, New York, five days after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183995,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,11,10],"class_list":{"0":"post-183994","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-headlines","10":"tag-new-york-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183994"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183994\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}