Shots fired after lull that coincided with extra patrols

There were no injuries late Wednesday when shots were fired at an unoccupied parked car on Hunter Street near Ravine Street in the Rondout section of the city, according to police.

It was the first reported incident of gunfire in the city after a lull of nearly two months amid an increase in road patrols that included Kingston police, the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office and state police.

The increased patrols were a response to numerous incidents of shots being fired over the summer, including one homicide and two teens being shot in their legs.

Police said they received a report about 10:50 p.m. Wednesday that shots had been fired at an unoccupied parked car from inside a passing blue Dodge. The Dodge is believed to have been occupied by three or four men, police said.

No further descriptions of the suspects or vehicle were provided.

At a Sept. 23 meeting of the Kingston Common Council’s Public Safety/ General Government Committee, Police Chief Egidio Tinti says the city’s law-enforcement partnerships and increased patrols had led to the near elimination of gunfire in Kingston and that he wanted to extend the initiative beyond the initial 10-week evaluation period that began Aug. 6.

“There’s been a substantial reduction, almost an elimination, of any shootings and whatnots in Kingston since we started this,” Tinti told the committee.

On Sept. 23, Tinti said there were three or four officers from his department working with four to five state troopers and up to three deputies from the Sheriff’s Office. That level of staffing could be reduced if the initiative continues, Tinti said, though he added proactive polic

ing is necessary to monitor any violence that might occur in the city.

What was happening before could not be allowed to continue, the chief said.

The increased patrols followed four fatal shootings in the city between October 2019 and July 2020, only one of which has resulted in an arrest; as well as numerous incidents of shots being fired and no one being struck. In early July, though, t wo teens suffered leg wounds in a shooting at the Birchwood Village apartment complex.

Almost all of those incidents were in Midtown.