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The Erie County Medical Examiner’s Office has ruled that the death of Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a nearly blind refugee from Myanmar, is a homicide, officials said Wednesday, linking the death to medical complications that followed exposure to cold and lack of hydration. Authorities said the agency did not reach any conclusion about responsibility for Shah Alam’s death and that a homicide designation does not necessarily mean a crime was committed.
The ruling comes after Shah Alam was left by Border Patrol agents at a Tim Hortons in Buffalo on Feb. 19—about five days before he was found dead near downtown, where the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres play, according to the report. Authorities said many details about his health and his final days remain undisclosed, including because his autopsy report is confidential under New York law.
At a news conference Wednesday, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said, “This should not have happened,” declining to say whether Border Patrol was responsible and instead pointing to law enforcement agencies to make any such determination. State Attorney General Letitia James and Erie County District Attorney Mike Keane, both Democrats, also said their offices are reviewing the case, with Keane saying his office requested Shah Alam’s full autopsy report but that it would be inappropriate to comment further.
Customs and Border Protection pointed Wednesday to an earlier statement saying Shah Alam “showed no signs of distress, mobility issues, or disabilities requiring special assistance” when agents dropped him off at the Tim Hortons restaurant. The agency’s parent department, the Department of Homeland Security, also posted on Feb. 27 that “This death had NOTHING to do” with Border Patrol and said coverage of the case was aimed at “to demonize our law enforcement.”
A separate call for accountability came from New York Immigration Coalition President Murad Awawdeh, who said advocates have pressed for a criminal investigation into the Border Patrol agents’ conduct. Awawdeh said, “Every single person who was involved must be held responsible,” describing Shah Alam as a member of the Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority that has faced discrimination and oppression in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.
Gov. Kathy Hochul also called for accountability and said her aides spoke to the district attorney Wednesday afternoon. Hochul, a Democrat and a Buffalo native, criticized what she described as the “cruelty and inhumanity” of depositing a man who could barely see and speak English outside a restaurant that was then closed.
Erie County Health Commissioner Gale Burstein told reporters that Shah Alam developed what is commonly known as a stress ulcer triggered in his case by dehydration and exposure to cold. Burstein said the ulcer breached the intestinal wall, describing it as a painful medical emergency requiring rapid treatment, while also adding that it was impossible to determine exactly when he died after he left the Tim Hortons area.
Advocates said Shah Alam was 56 and left Myanmar for Malaysia years earlier, working in construction before coming to the U.S. as a refugee with his wife and two of his children in December 2024. They said Shah Alam spent about a year in the Erie County jail after a 2025 incident involving felony assault and other charges connected to police encountering him carrying what appeared to be curtain rods; police said he bit two officers, while advocates for his family said he did not understand officers’ commands to drop the items.
Shah Alam eventually pleaded guilty to two lesser misdemeanor charges and was released from jail on Feb. 19. The report said Border Patrol then briefly detained him before determining he was not eligible for deportation, and that his family—who had been awaiting his release—was not informed. It was later reported that a lawyer submitted a missing-person report to Buffalo police on Feb. 22, and that Investigative Post surveillance video showed him moving carefully through the Tim Hortons’ empty parking lot in jail booties, pulling his hood against the cold before walking off into the night.
Imran Fazal, who said he knows the family and founded the Rohingya Empowerment Community, said Shah Alam’s death left people grieving and fearful. Fazal said, “This tragedy was entirely preventable, and it reflects a serious failure in the systems meant to protect vulnerable people.”