At least one person was killed and several others were injured after gunmen, all of whom witnesses said were under the age of 21, opened fire during a barbecue in a park in Rochester, New York, on Sunday.
Rochester police said they responded to a large gathering with shots fired at Maplewood Park around 6:20 p.m. and found several people with gunshot wounds. The city is about 340 miles northwest of Manhattan.
A 20-year-old man was killed, another person, a woman, suffered life-threatening injuries and five people were hospitalized with minor injuries, Capt. Greg Bello said. The identity of the person who was killed has not been released.
“At this point, we don’t know how many people were shooting,” Bello said. “We’re trying to get as many witnesses as we can.”
A video taken by a visitor shows dozens of people enjoying the nice weather, followed by all sorts of popping sounds, forcing everyone to take cover.
At one point a voice can be heard repeatedly saying, “Keep applying pressure.”
The video opens with a large group of people enjoying the summer sun at a barbecue in the city of Rochester
The scene quickly turns to panic as multiple thuds are heard. At one point, a voice can even be heard saying, “Keep pressure!”
In a interview with WHEC, Rochester Police Chief David Smith said investigators are still trying to determine whether the shooters were originally part of the group or if they were outsiders.
“Everybody was having a good time. There was no reason to be worried or think anything was going to happen. It was a group of people having a picnic in the park,” Smith told the station.
No suspects have been arrested yet, police said, although they confirmed they are looking for multiple shooters.
A woman who lives near the park told WHEC she thought the sounds she heard were fireworks until she saw people running away.
“I thought it was fireworks, but when I saw people running, I knew it was gunshots. As I walked to the front of my house, a young woman ran up to me, gasping for breath, asking me to help her, help her, help her. So I lifted my trunk, got her a bottle of water and put her down,” said Carla Owens Martin.
Another local resident described the scene as “pure terror.”
“When I looked out the window, this whole park, which was full of people, was running for their lives. There were people hiding behind cars, jumping over my fence, crying. It was pure fear,” said one resident. Rochester First.
Another spoke of a scene with “children with guns drawn.”
Local police check the scene of the shooting, a giant smoker can be seen
A neighbor told a reporter she thought she heard fireworks until she saw people running for their lives
Rochester is located approximately 350 miles northwest of New York City
“We looked out the window and saw two kids standing on our porch with their guns drawn, and we thought, ‘What now?’” said resident Shelley Strong.
Rochester’s Democratic Mayor Malik Evans, who visited the scene of the crash, said, “What happened today is a tragedy.”
“The most important tip we need comes from the individuals who pulled their weapons and started shooting,” the mayor added.
“That’s what we need. I guarantee that with a large number of people here enjoying the summer weather this Sunday, someone here saw something. There are cameras everywhere. We just need a tip; nothing is too small.”
The Black Republican Club of Rochester also a statement released about the shooting.
“Don’t blame race, gun control, gender, or Trump for this tragic mass shooting in Rochester, NY. It’s time to move beyond the usual scapegoats and address the real issues head-on.”
“We need real solutions to the rising crime in our city, not just more cajoling of the black community with claims that it is all due to Jim Crow and Trump’s policies. Let’s have an honest conversation about the root causes and how we can effectively address them,” the statement read.
Anyone with footage or information can call 311, 911, email MajorCrimes@cityofrochester.gov, call the Major Crimes Unit at 428-7157, CrimeStoppers at 423-9300.