"I am angry that people are losing their lives on these streets."
Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren's statement resonated through the Public Safety Building as she and Rochester Police spoke to the media about a drive-by shooting that left three people dead and four wounded.
It happened near 500 Genesee St., near the Boys and Girls club just before 11:30 p.m.
Chief Michael Ciminelli says it happened after a basketball game at the Boys & Girls Club. Ciminelli says a car drove by, and someone fired shots into a crowd outside the building. He says there was no problem in the club itself, or with the basketball game.
The chief calls it "an outrageous act" and he says police will find out who did it and "bring them to justice."
In an afternoon news conference, Ciminelli offered a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to an arrest.
The shooting struck the Mayor's office personally. Warren said an intern in her office knew one of the men who was shot. She pleaded with the public to share anything they may know about the shooting. "If you know something about this event, please come forward so we can bring these people to justice."
While police have not formally identified those killed in last night's shooting on Genesee Street, family members tell WXXI News that 2 of the three victims are 17 year old Jonah Barley and 19 year old Raekwon Maingault.
Ciminelli said the four men who survived the shooting are identified as city residents, ranging from 20-29 years old. As of Thursday night, just one of those men was still in the hospital, and he was in guarded condition.
Councilman Adam McFadden says believes it was related to a dispute between two groups. It's McFadden's district, and he told WXXI News, "We really have to figure out how to get illegal guns off the street, one, but two, we're lacking a value system in our community where we have to teach people how to value life, and how to resolve conflict without violence."
Around 100 people gathered in the area after the shooting. It was a very emotional scene, with people crying in street, some of whom apparently knew the victims; one woman said something about having seen one of the victims, just before he went to work earlier in the day. Warren said that two of the victims were involved with the Pathways to Peace program.
Ciminelli is asking anyone with any information to call 911 or 311.
