ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The number of homicides this year in Rochester, New York, stands at the most in nearly 30 years after two young men were fatally shot in the halls of an apartment building.
The shooting early Thursday brings the total number of city homicides for 2021 to 70. That's as many as were recorded in all of 1993.
On Friday, the mayor declared a state of emergency in the city. The governor has agreed to send more state troopers to the city, in an attempt to try and stop that deadly violence.
City leaders there say they're needed. Leaders say there will also be an increase in mental health and violence intervention services, to try and attack the crisis from all angles.
Police Capt. Frank Umbrino tells the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle that at least one of the victims lived in the building where the two were fatally shot around 3 a.m.
One was in his late teens and the other in his early 20s.
Last week, a 15-year-old Rochester boy was shot and killed, making him the city’s youngest homicide victim of the year. The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reported that police Lt. Michael Perkowski says the teen was taken to a hospital Tuesday evening with a gunshot wound to the chest and was pronounced dead.
Authorities are investigating the shooting, which they believe was isolated. That shooting was Rochester’s 68th homicide of the year. Four of those killed in 2021 were younger than 18.
Last month, the Rochester Police Department gathered with local community leaders to support the Stop the Violence campaign.