The City of Rochester reports the numbers of shootings and homicides dropped slightly in 2022 over 2021, but Mayor Malik Evans and Police Chief David Smith says the city has to stay the course to keep making a difference. There were 76 homicide victims in Rochester last year. That was down from 84 the previous year.
Last year started with the murder of 14-year-old Julius Greer and included the murder of Police Offier Anthony Mazurkiewicz. Mayor Evans called those and all the murders last year “senseless.”
Chief Smith said the losses suffered by families and friends of victims can’t be quantified by numbers alone, but he said the city is making progress reducing the violence. Shootings also decreased, from 419 in 2021 to 351 last year.
The city says it will continue its three-pronged approach to reducing violence: prevention, by reaching young people before they turn to violence; intervention to break the chain of violence; an surpression by arresting those with illegal guns, often on federal charges.