The man who died in an upstate prison Saturday allegedly at the hands of correction officers during a wildcat strike showed signs of a promising future before he spiraled into mental illness and became a two-time killer, interviews and a review of documents by the Daily News show.
But a chaotic home life, a father who was in and out of prison, a mother who struggled with addiction and, at the age of 18, a clash with police in the Bronx that nearly killed him all proved too much. Family members and two of his lawyers say he was diagnosed with severe PTSD, a sad and rapid fall that ended in another explosion of violence.
Messiah Nantwi, 22, died March 1 at Mid-State Correctional Facility in Marcy, N.Y., after an altercation with state correction officers. His cause of death is still being determined but Gov. Hochul said Tuesday there were signs of “extremely disturbing conduct” by the officers.
An investigation in Nantwi’s death during an altercation with correction officers at Mid-State Correction Facility in Marcy, N.Y. is under criminal investigation, involving as many as nine officers. Fifteen officers have been suspended, the officials said
Nantwi was in prison for a gun possession case stemming from the 2021 incident where during a chase NYPD officers shot him up to 27 times after they believed he fired at them during what began as a street encounter over paint cans and graffiti.
He was also awaiting trial for two shocking murders roughly 27 hours apart in Harlem around Easter 2023 after which Mayor Adams called him a “poster child for recidivism.”
But up until 2021, Nantawi had no criminal record, his lawyers said. His aunt told the Daily News Nantwi was bright and studious. After his encounter with the police, family members said, he became paranoid and angry, both symptoms, they said, of severe post-traumatic stress.
“Often we have cases about the intersection of criminal justice and mental health. This is one of the most profound I’ve seen,” said Anthony Ricco, the veteran criminal defense lawyer who represented Messiah in the gun case. “I can’t help but think of what could have been. We wouldn’t have had those two murders and we wouldn’t have had his death.
“I am haunted by it.”
A chaotic home
Nantwi was born in March 2002 into what became a chaotic household that ultimately collapsed under its own weight, his lawyers and his aunt told The News.
His mother eventually developed a severe drug habit and his sister died of a drug overdose, they said. His father, Patterson Nantwi, 54, has a record of multiple arrests, prison stints and parole violations spanning most of Messiah’s life, court records show.
During Messiah’s first couple years of life, federal prosecutors charged his father with healthcare fraud and possession of PCP and cocaine, records show. He was sentenced to 78 months in prison and served three years until October 2009.
NYPD
Messiah Nantwi
He was paroled and worked as a delivery truck driver but was arrested several times for scalping tickets outside Yankee Stadium, records show. Patterson violated his parole multiple times, the records show. In 2015, he had failed three drug tests and had been arrested in Pennsylvania, a court transcript shows.
He was returned to prison in August of that year and released again the following November when Messiah was about 15, the records show. Patterson was last arrested in May 2023 for drug possession. The outcome of that case was unclear.
Messiah’s mom Leslie Valdez worked up until roughly 2014 as a real estate agent, according to her resume and the aunt, Mayreni Lopez. She has since struggled with drug addiction and homelessness, Lopez said. His sister died of a drug overdose in 2024, Lopez and Messiah’s lawyers said.
“Messiah was highly intelligent. Not just book smart but wise. Leslie introduced him to the arts, music, acting. She wanted him to be his best,” Lopez said
Messiah continued to show promise despite what relatives described as a tortured relationship with his father At Cardinal Hayes High School, he showed aptitude for math and other subjects and made the football and lacrosse teams, said Steven Lagon, another of Messiah’s lawyers.
In 2020, Lopez was living in Binghamton. She came to New York City on a visit but couldn’t reach Messiah. She called and called and went looking for him.
She found him with friends holding a bouquet of flowers. “My phone broke,” he told her. “But I made sure to get you flowers.”
Later that year he called her and said he had abruptly moved on his own to California but he was lonely.
“I told him, ‘Stay there,’” Lopez said. “I’ll come visit. He wasn’t even 18 then. But his father talked him into coming back.”
Messiah returned for Thanksgiving. She told him again “Do not stay in Harlem.” But he stayed.
“That little piece of an angel … I knew life was about to get real hard,” Lopez said.
Trouble begins
On Feb. 21, 2021, at E. 153nd St. and Elton Ave in the Bronx, cops in an unmarked vehicle spotted Nantwi and a friend with cans of spray paint. There was a chase by foot and vehicle and Messiah was tackled.
Authorities said Nantwi fired three times at the cops with a .22-caliber pistol and the police returned fire. The NYPD attributed three shell casings at the scene to a gun found next to him that was shattered by police bullets. Messiah was struck up to 27 times and spent six months recovering in Lincoln and Bellevue Hospitals.
Steven Legon, a lawyer representing Nantwi in a lawsuit against the NYPD, said he has been reviewing video tape of the clash as part of his preparing lawsuit and has arrived at a different narrative of that night’s events.
He said he could not rule out Nantwi opened fire at some point but believes the encounter escalated when a round fired by one officer struck the flashlight in another officer’s gun belt, causing the lithium battery in the flashlight to explode. A hail of gunfire followed.
A gun shot into pieces was found under Nantwi, he said.
“This was an unjustified and wrongful police shooting,” Legon alleged. “They violated all their procedures and ignored their training.”
The Bronx DA’s office did not charge the officers. An NYPD review is continuing. One officer was disciplined for prematurely turning off his body camera, Legon said.
Nantwi was charged with three counts of attempted murder of a police officer. The Bronx DA assigned prosecutor Omer Wiczyk, chief of its Public Integrity Unit to the case. Meanwhile Nantwi filed the lawsuit against the city.
A couple of neighbors concerned about Nantwi used to attend his court hearings, Ricco said.
Eventually the DA’s office agreed to reduce the charges to simple gun possession and offered Nantwi a plea deal that would give him youthful offender status with no prison time and no criminal record, Ricco said, in essence wiping the slate clean. Ricco points to the offer as an indication there were likely problems with the official version of the shooting.
Nantwi was released from jail into the custody of his aunt, Lopez, rather than his father, both Lopez and Ricco said.
He was enrolled in Avenues, a youth counseling program, and mental health therapy. He got his GED in October 2021 and enrolled in college courses.
But the trauma of the shooting began to manifest itself, his lawyers and aunt say.
“We started to notice this incredible decline in his mental health,” Ricco said. “He was really beginning to fall apart.”
Added Lopez, “His real persona would try to peek through every so often but he was suspicious of everyone he would talk to himself,” Lopez said. “I knew he loved me. But he thought everyone had an ulterior motive. He was a hurt traumatized soul.”
With the plea offer, Messiah had the chance for a clean record after being charged with shooting at police. But, Ricco said, his father Patterson had conversations with the lawyers about whether the plea could affect the settlement in the lawsuit.
The lawyers tried to convince Patterson that the validity of an excessive force claim would not be affected by the criminal case, Ricco said. He said he withdrew from the case amid tension with Patterson.
“We even had him at the office several times, (and) on way too many telephone calls. But he insisted he knew better.”
Asked about these assertions, Patterson Nantwi wrote in a series of text messages that his accusers are “liars.” “Please don’t go to press with these lies,” he wrote. “Why would my son’s actions be my fault?
He added, “I never abused my son. He always ate well, wore clean clothes and lived in a clean … apartment.”
He then referred The News to a lawyer, Owen Lamb. Lamb was contacted several times but ultimately did not provide a response on Patterson’s behalf.
At a key hearing on March 6, 2023, Ricco says, Messiah broke down from the pressure and began crying. Judge Ralph Fabrizio postponed the plea.
In the meantime, Messiah’s mental disorder became more severe.
Two killings in 27 hours
A short while later, in April 2023, Messiah Nantwi detonated. Authorities said on April 8, Nantwi shot and killed Jaylen Duncan, 19, at E. 132nd St. and Madison Ave. Barely 27 hours later, he fatally shot Brandon Brunson, 36, in a smoke shop.
Duncan was a longtime rival of Nantwi’s while Brunson is believed to have been a stranger he briefly exchanged words with, his lawyers say.
After his arrest for the murders, Nantwi still had the Bronx gun charge pending, but the Bronx DA withdrew the no-jail deal. He pleaded guilty in that case and was sentenced to five years in prison, a stint he began May 30, records show.
Eight months later, the State Police is investigating his death in prison. Inmates have claimed to have heard him screaming for his life during the altercation as members of the National Guard watched.
As word of his death seeped from behind the prison walls, Ricco said his phone rang over and over. Caseworkers from Avenues, his other lawyers, even the prosecutor, Wiczyk which prosecutor, all of them stunned.
“I can’t take away the things he did. It’s been hard for me to understand,” Lopez said. “I am starting to grasp why he snapped – because there was never a break for my baby.”
