ALBANY — City leaders had few answers Monday about what led to three fatal shootings in a four-day span.
Speaking at a news conference at police headquarters, Albany Police Chief Eric Hawkins said that no arrests had been made in Thursday’s shooting near a day care on Third Street that left Javone Sims, 18, dead and a 17-year-old in critical condition at Albany Medical Center Hospital. Nor had arrests been made in two separate shootings that took place early Sunday morning.
Deandre Morrison, 28, of Albany, died after being shot multiple times in the torso at 12:45 a.m. on Myrtle Street, a block from the Executive Mansion. Benjamin Rowe, 25, was found on Hamilton Street near The College of Saint Rose and University at Albany downtown campus with two gunshot wounds to his torso just before 2 a.m. He was later pronounced dead at Albany Med.
“We have some promising leads and on all of (the cases), we have some promising things to go on,” the police chief said.
Hawkins said that of the 10 homicides in the city this year, six were related to domestic disputes and two, including the Thursday shooting that killed Sims and the Sunday shooting that killed Morrison, were targeted killings. Police did not have a motive in the Rowe shooting.
It has been a grim start to the summer in Albany, a period that has historically been marked with increased violent crime.
Second Ward Councilman Derek Johnson, who represents the area where Morrison was found, reported a growing mood of desperation in his district. “We are people who have been in a struggle that is real. Life is hitting you as hard as it can. We’re in survival mode,” he said. “Very few of us are thriving. When you bring a whole bunch of people in survival mode together, you’re going to have conflict.”
Johnson also said he would welcome a more visible police presence in the neighborhood he represents.
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