ROCHESTER, N.Y. – A second person has died in a shooting that occurred Sunday evening at an upstate New York city park, police officials announced at a news conference Monday.
Rochester Police Chief David Smith said the shooting happened around 6:20 p.m. in Maplewood Park, where hundreds of people had gathered for a barbecue. Seven people were shot and taken to a nearby hospital.
City employee Tiasia Manning, 25, died of her injuries Sunday. Hours later, 34-year-old Phylicia Council also died of her injuries, Smith said. The five other victims suffered non-life-threatening injuries, but Rochester Mayor Malik Evans said their injuries were “life-changing.”
It was not immediately clear what led to the shooting or how many people were involved. Smith said bullets were fired from multiple weapons “at some point” during the barbecue. He asked for witnesses to come forward with information.
“There were hundreds of people at this barbecue, and therefore hundreds of people who have information that will help solve this case,” Smith said. “Once again, I ask the community to step up and help us hold those who opened fire into a crowd, killing two women, accountable for their despicable actions.”
Sunday’s incident was Rochester’s second mass shooting this year. On June 23, an altercation broke out at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park, leading to at least one person firing into the crowd, leaving six people shot overnight. The victims ranged in age from 17 to 33, and all survived. In response, the mayor imposed an 8 p.m. curfew on the park.
Questions abound after Maplewood Park shooting
Smith told reporters Monday that he didn’t know whether the shooter was present at the barbecue or if he was from outside. Police have not said how many shots were fired or how many people are believed to have fired their weapons.
Although the barbecue had been advertised with fliers, the event did not require a permit, Smith said. He told reporters that city police “were on the scene several times that day” after receiving complaints about cars parked on the lawn, but that the gathering otherwise followed rules. Police were monitoring the event on nearby security cameras.
“There was absolutely no indication anything like this was going to happen until this happened,” Smith said.
City employee was one of two women killed in shooting
Rochester Mayor Evans said both women were innocent victims of a shooting among hundreds of people enjoying a barbecue and warm summer weather at the time of the shootings.
Mayor Evans confirmed that Manning had worked at a Rochester community center and said her death was a “huge shock.” The mayor has ordered flags on city buildings flown at half-staff, Evans said.
“She was just there for the barbecue and she wasn’t causing any trouble or creating any chaos or getting into any mayhem like most of the people there were,” Evans said.
The mayor said there were babies and families at the event and again urged police officials to ask witnesses to send video to investigators and provide police with more information about what happened. “We need information,” the mayor said.
Beloved park becomes site of one of America’s latest mass shootings
Maplewood Park stretches for two miles near the Genesee River and features a rose garden, gazebos, playgrounds and picnic areas. The park was designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted in the late 1880s and is a Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site, according to the National Park Service.
Rochester, with a population of just over 200,000, is located on the shores of Lake Ontario, approximately 340 miles northwest of Manhattan.
At least 314 mass shootings have occurred in the US this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as one in which at least four people are injured or killed, excluding the shooter.
Christopher Kann reports for USA Today and Victoria E. Fraile for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
