Walmart parking lot shooting in upstate NY leaves 1 dead, 3 injured, including 15-year-old

One person was killed and three others, including a 15-year-old girl, were injured when shots rang out after midnight Monday in a crowded Walmart parking lot in upstate New York that police say was crowded with hundreds of people. 

Rochester Police Capt. Frank Umbrino said officers from his department responded to the parking lot outside the Walmart SuperCenter located at 1490 Hudson Ave. after shots rang out in a crowd around 12:50 a.m. Four people were driven to Rochester General Hospital in separate vehicles. 

An 18-year-old man was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at the hospital. His death marked the 35th homicide in Rochester this year and the 12th in June, according to the Democrat & Chronicle. A 43-year-old man suffered serious injuries, Umbrino said. And two others, a 23-year-old man and a 15-year-old girl, both suffered non-life-threatening injuries. 

“It’s terrible,” Umbrino told reporters following another shooting in the area, according to WHAM. “It’s another tragedy that we’re facing. Unfortunately we’ve had way too many of them…At what point in a child’s life do they learn that it’s OK to shoot somebody or to harm somebody?”

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Umbrino said several hundred people and vehicles were in the parking lot at the time a fight broke out. About 20 shots rang out from multiple weapons, WHEC reported. It’s unclear whether the fight was related to the shooting – or if the gunfire came from another area in the crowd. 

“There was at least one fight that broke out,” Umbrino said. “Simultaneous to that fight breaking out, there were multiple gunshots fired from multiple different weapons. It’s unknown if those gunshots were the result of the initial fight or if there was another altercation.”

The Walmart store was closed at the time of the shooting. 

The incident remains under investigation. No arrests were immediately made, and anyone with information or cel phone video of the incident is asked to call 911, the Major Crimes Unit at (585) 428-7157, Crime Stoppers at (585) 423-9300, or email MajorCrimes@cityofrochester.gov.

Umbrino said it was too early to release information about potential suspects at this time. 

He also addressed parents after the shooting amid an uptick in violence. 

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“Know where your kids are. Their life may depend on it. Be a parent, be a role model, set a good example,” he said. “We have to teach these children that this behavior isn’t okay and wherever they’re seeing this behavior, that’s where the root cause of all this violence that we’re having is. Where are they learning this behavior is okay? Because it’s not.”

The most recent shooting comes days after Interim Chief Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan announced that she was working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Buffalo on ways to combat rising gun violence. She said her goal was to ensure those arrested for violent, gun-related incidents remain in jail.