Local group, family searching for answers following homicide

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Just as Rise Up Rochester started knocking on doors to talk to people about all the violence, there was a double shooting just a few blocks away.

News10NBC’s Stephanie Duprey was out with community activists when it all unfolded.

11-year-old Jah’zaria Brinson, part of Rise Up Rochester, says she can’t play outside past a certain time because of violence in the city.

“I can’t even ride my bike up and down the street because of what’s happening especially on my side of town. Just sit down and talk, but no they decide to pull out a gun and kill someone,” she said.

Rise Up Rochester gathered on North Clinton and Scrantom Street Thursday, doing routine community outreach, when all of a sudden, dozens of police cruisers sped by.

We followed police to Child Street. Police say two women were shot when a suspect fired into a crowd of people. They’re both expected to recover.

“If you don’t mean any good to our community, you don’t need to be here,” Wanda Ridgeway said.

One leader with Rise Up Rochester, Wanda Ridgeway shows up for her community every day.

Violence in the city took the life of her 16-year-old nephew, Jaquise Davis, on Monday. Her family is still searching for answers.

“We’re still waiting to hear what happened, I just got off the phone with investigators, so we’re still waiting to see what actually happened or what they believe happened,” Ridgeway told us.

Assemblyman Demond Meeks had already planned to do a “Truce in the city” press conference Thursday in the same area Rise Up Rochester was, when violence broke out. He says the question still remains.

“Tremendous pain that our community has been forced to endure,  has devastated our families and with the potential to ripple through generations, we are left with one question, where do we go from here?”.

The shooting on Child Street is still under investigation. Police are still searching for the gunman, anyone with information is asked to call 911.