Rochester Police Investigate Shooting That Killed 2, Hurt 14 As Daniel Prude Probe Continues

A man and a woman, both under 22 years old, were killed and 14 people were wounded during a backyard house party with more than 100 people present in the city’s Marketview Heights neighborhood, according to multiple media reports.

Police withheld other details pending notification of next of kin, according to Acting Police Chief Mark Simmons, who stepped into the acting role Tuesday after Rochester Mayor Lovely A. Warren fired the former chief as part of the fallout over the death of Prude, who was naked and handcuffed when police put a “spit hood” over his head, pinned him to the ground and he appeared to stop breathing.

An internal review into Prude’s arrest and subsequent death show a “pervasive problem” in the Police Department, the mayor said.

At a media briefing early Saturday, according to the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, Simmons called the incident “truly a tragedy of epic proportions, if you ask me,” adding. “I mean 16 victims is unheard of, and for our community, who’s right now going through so much, to have to be dealt with this tragedy, needlessly, for people who decide to act in a violent manner is unfortunate and shameful, and we’re going to do everything that we can as a department to bring those people involved to justice.”

In a separate statement, Willie Lightfoot, city council vice president,  urged residents to remain calm.

When police arrived, they saw scores of people running from the scene and found multiple people who had been shot in what Simmons described as “a very chaotic scene,” according to the newspaper which added that there were no suspects in custody early Saturday.