Police cuts still loom

Albany police say man was shot multiple times

Despite two homicides, 40 officers may lose their jobs because of fiscal woes.

A 30-year-old city man was shot numerous times on Colonie Street in Arbor Hill on Monday afternoon in a crime police believe is tied to a feud between the victim and his assailant.

It was at least the third shooting in the city over the Memorial Day weekend.

Officers, who received a call about 12:45 p.m., found the victim in a car near the intersection of Colonie and Lark streets, according to Police Chief Eric Hawkins. He said the victim, who was shot in the stomach, suffered injuries that are not believed to be life threatening. He was taken to Albany Medical Center Hospital.

“It looks like it involves a couple of individuals that know each other and have some sort of feud and it escalated to gunfire,”

Hawkins said. “We’re trying to sort all this out at this point.”

The chief said he did not believe the shooting was gang-related. He said the shooting appeared to be an isolated incident between the victim and his assailant.

“I’m fairly confident we are going to find out who is involved in this. We’re going to arrest that person and bring that person to justice,” Hawkins said.

Hawkins said police were still interviewing witnesses and canvassing the neighborhood. He said police were looking to see if any public or private cameras captured the incident. The shooter used a handgun, Hawkins said.

On Saturday, a 17-yearold male was found shot in the leg at Thornton and Second streets in West Hill around 9:45 p.m. Police learned an 18-year-old male shot in the arm during the same incident had gone to the emergency room at Albany Medical Center

Hospital. Neither injuries were considered lifethreatening.

Last week, the Times Union reported that there had been 17 shooting incidents in Albany with 19 people shot. By comparsion, the figure was seven at this point in 2019, according to department statistics. And calls for gunshots fired during that same time frame is 69 compared to 24 last year.

On Monday, Hawkins said despite the recent increase in shootings — four people have been shot dead this year — overall crime in the city is down year to date.

“But still, there is some very unsettling individual incidents that have happened that have us concerned and we’re going to deal with those incidents,” the chief said.

Hawkins said it is important for members of the community to let the police know about any concerns they have in their neighborhood.