US medical examiner rules Border Patrol drop-off death a homicide
Visually impaired Rohingya refugee left outside Buffalo Tim Hortons in winter, responsibility turns on omissions more than intent
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People gather to renember Nurul Amin Shah, who died in February last year. Photograph: Craig Ruttle/Reuters
theguardian.com
Body-camera footage from Buffalo police shows Nurul Amin Shah being led by officers. Photograph: AP
theguardian.com
The death of a visually impaired Rohingya refugee who was left outside a Tim Hortons on a cold night in Buffalo by US Border Patrol agents has been ruled a homicide, according to the Guardian.
The Erie County medical examiner said Nurul Amin Shah, 56, died on 24 February, five days after agents dropped him off in a parking lot without notifying his family or attorney. The cause of death was “complications of a perforated duodenal ulcer precipitated by hypothermia and dehydration,” and the manner of death was classified as homicide. The office stressed that, for death certification purposes, “homicide” means a death resulting from another person’s actions, including negligent acts or omissions, and does not itself establish intent or criminal liability.
The ruling increases the legal and political pressure on agencies that often operate through checklists rather than outcomes. A border encounter can move from arrest to transfer to release with each step documented, while the practical question—whether a nearly blind man can survive being left outside in winter—belongs to nobody’s job description.
New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, opened a formal investigation earlier in March and said the office is reviewing the circumstances and treatment that led to Shah’s death. The Erie County district attorney’s office said it had requested the autopsy report and would review the findings alongside other evidence.
Federal agencies are built to prevent individual discretion from becoming the story. That design also makes it easy for responsibility to diffuse across handoffs: one officer decides a drop-off is “not custody,” another assumes medical risk is someone else’s lane, and the paper trail reads like compliance.
Shah had resettled in Buffalo in December 2024 with his wife and two sons after fleeing persecution in Myanmar, the Guardian reports. He was arrested on 15 February 2025 after becoming disoriented while walking home, according to his family.
The medical examiner’s language is dry but specific: hypothermia and dehydration precipitated the fatal complications.
The decision to leave him in a parking lot was also specific.