NEWS

No arrests after 1 man dead, 7 hurt at State St. club

Patti Singer
@PattiSingerRoc
Aftermath of shoot out at Mexican Village nightclub, 547 State St., where one male was shot and killed and seven others were wounded in the gun fire early Sunday morning. Police responded for numerous calls of shots fired around 2am.

More than three dozen people were to be interviewed after a fight spilled outside a Rochester nightclub early Sunday, leaving one man dead and injuring seven other people, including one woman.

Rochester police officers who were in the area around 2 a.m. heard gunshots and responded to the Mexican Village club at 547 State St., Police Chief Michael Ciminelli said at a news conference less than 12 hours later.

Ciminelli declined to identify any of the victims, including a 29-year-old city man who was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police initially reported that a 16-year-old male was injured, but Ciminelli said all the victims were between the ages of 21 and 30.

Six other victims were found at various locations around the area and all were transported to Strong Memorial Hospital by Rural/Metro Medical Services. Ciminelli said a 26-year-old man was in guarded condition at Strong. He said the other people sustained injuries that were not life-threatening.

RPD aims to curb spike in violence

Police said an additional victim was not located at the scene, but was taken by private vehicle to Rochester General Hospital. A spokeswoman said that person, whom she would not identify by age or gender, was treated and released.

Citing an ongoing investigation, Ciminelli declined to expand on a statement he read at the news conference. He said families still were being notified, and no names would be released.

Ciminelli said there were about 40 people in or near Mexican Village just after 2 a.m., when officers arrived, and they had to be interviewed. "That's a large number of people, you can imagine," he said.

The chief declined to speculate on any physical evidence, including whether those who were shot were the only ones involved in the dispute, the number of people shooting, the number of shots fired or whether there was crossfire. He did say that preliminary indications were that shots were fired outside.

On State Street between Jay and Smith streets, approximately 70 evidence markers were visible on the east and west sidewalks, as well as in both lanes of the road. Ciminelli would not say whether any guns had been recovered.

That stretch of State Street was reopened early Sunday evening.

Ciminelli said he was not aware of any officers responding to the bar on Saturday night or Sunday morning, but the chief said there had been previous calls for service and that the bar has been assessed nuisance points a few months ago.

He declined to draw comparisons to a shooting in April 2015 at the Gates Pub that left one person dead and six others wounded.

In his statement, Ciminelli said there was no reason to believe the general public is in any danger relating to the Mexican Village incident.

"This was not a general act," he said in response to a question about public safety. "It stemmed from a dispute between parties in a single location."

As for law-abiding people who get caught up in violence when it happens in public, Ciminelli said, "I think we all have to be alert to the situation around us, and be cognizant of our safety and prudent."

The Mexican Village shooting occurred less than a month after a quadruple homicide in a home on Leighton Avenue; police offered no new information on that case. In 2015, the number of shooting victims in the city was up 20 percent over 2014. There were 35 homicides last year, compared to 32 in 2014.

RPD aims to curb spike in violence

Asked whether Rochester has a problem with mass violence, Ciminelli said, "Any violence, whether mass or in singular units, is too much. Right now, every resident in the city of Rochester should not accept this. It's intolerable to all of us. We need to work together to make it stop."

City Councilman Adam McFadden, who represents the South District and is chairman of the Public Safety, Youth & Recreation Committee, was at the scene at midmorning.

"This is becoming like watching a bad rerun movie where you know the outcome," McFadden said. "This is not a police problem but it's a problem with our citizens, at least some of the folks in our community who think they can solve problems with violence and gunplay. … You're talking about cowards who think this is the only way they can solve problems. We have a problem not just in our community but all over the country with people having guns who shouldn't have them."

McFadden said the problem was beyond the scope of anything City Council could legislate. In his impromptu news conference outside the crime-scene tape that blocked off State Street, he talked about the impact that people who don't value life have on the rest of the community.

He said the homicides in the city "paint a really bad narrative about who we are and the fact that we have individuals in our community who think (violence) is OK, and it's not."

In a written statement handed out at Ciminelli's news conference, Mayor Lovely Warren had one question.

"Yet again, someone in Rochester reached for a gun to resolve a conflict," she wrote. "And yet again, another life is lost, innocent people are injured, families are devastated and our entire city is suffering. Yet again, one senseless act makes us ask: Why?

"Why is it that some people can only use violence to cope with a situation? Why is a gun the tool of choice to settle a dispute that certainly cannot be worth the cost of so much suffering?"

Includes reporting by staff photographer Max Schulte.

PSINGER@Gannett.com