Police responded to the home on Rushmore Avenue around 12:30 a.m. for a domestic incident.
His mother called the police, reporting her 33-year-old son was "out of control, highly intoxicated and refused to leave."
"Kiss me and say goodbye, I'm going to go outside and the police are going to take my life," James Rosano apparently told his mother before going outside the Carle Place home.
He was described as "very irate" as officers arrived. Authorities say he picked up what appeared to be a shotgun. Officers later discovered it was actually a BB gun.
"They used extreme restraint until the ultimate time when the weapon was discharged and taken his life," officials said.
Officers said they had to push his mother out of the way for her safety.
"First officer is speaking to the mother at the door, and turns looks to his right, and that individual picks that gun up and points it at our officer, he immediately pushes the mother into the house, putting his life in danger to save that woman," Nassau County authorities said.
"Put the gun down!" officers yelled multiple times as Rosano allegedly waved the weapon.
After numerous commands, officers fired. Rosano was struck once in the chest and died at the hospital.
"You look at it, and you tell me if you can see anything different in what that gun is. That is what was pointed at our officers, that was the threat, and that is what the police officers stopped," Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said.
Rosano had multiple arrests for assaults, including for assaulting his girlfriend on Monday. He had another arrest in New York City five days before that.
Natalie Miller was awake when police converged on her block.
She's known the family for years.
"He was always pleasant and kind in our small interchanges in the neighborhood. I never saw the other side to him," she said.
The other side includes a long rap sheet of assault, burglary and arson, officials said.
Police said they have been called to the house before for substance abuse and irrational behavior.
"I don't know why less-than-lethal force is not used," Miller said.
"A well-trained, well-professional, well-controlled officer did what he had to do to stop that threat," police said.
Police said Rosano's mother only knew of knives in the home and that's what she told police when they arrived.
The Nassau County PBA put out a statement saying in part that 'their officers were confronted with what appeared to be a weapon and they acted with courage to protect themselves and the community."
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