ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Police in upstate New York are searching for multiple people in connection with a shooting at a city park on Sunday evening that left one person dead and at least six others injured.
According to Rochester, New York Police Department, the shootout happened around 6:20 p.m. in Maplewood Park, where many people were picnicking and enjoying the summer day.
Rochester Police Lt. Greg Bello said it was not immediately clear what led to the shooting or how many people were involved, but it happened “at a time when everyone was having a barbecue and having a good time,” Bello said.
Bello said the shooting left one person dead — “an adult in his 20s” — another with life-threatening injuries and five others with “relatively minor injuries,” adding that the fate of other shooting victims may still be unknown.
Rochester Police Chief David Smith said the group had been at the park “all afternoon” and had been having a picnic when the shooting occurred. Smith said officers were “searching for multiple individuals” but it was unclear whether the shooter involved was among the group or came from outside the park and opened fire.
Bello said police are aware of several videos related to the incident circulating on social media and have asked people to send those videos directly to investigators.
“Social media is great, online video is great, online reports of events that happened are great, but unless you can get those directly to investigators and have them act on them right away, that’s not the best way to solve this case quickly,” he said at a news conference at the scene Sunday night.
Police are expected to release more information about the incident at a news conference scheduled for Monday morning.
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.
