SHOOTING VICTIM DIES; NO ARREST
Government, police leaders to address recent violence at Midtown event today
KINGSTON, N.Y. » Police on Monday were investigating the shooting death of a 38-year-old man in Midtown — the city’s first homicide in a year that has been marred by gun violence.
The man, whose name was not immediately provided because a family member out of state had not been contacted, was shot at 1:32 p.m. Sunday at the intersection of Liberty Street and Broadway and died at 3:52 p.m. at HealthAlliance Hospital’s Broadway Campus, Detective Lt. Thierry Croizer said.
Croizer said the man was struck twice by gunfire and that there was only one shooter “that we’re aware of.” The lieutenant did not say what type of gun was used.
No arrests had been announced as of late Monday afternoon, but Croizer said there are “people we’re looking to talk to” in connection with the shooting.
Authorities did not provide a possible motive for the shooting, but in a letter Sunday evening, six members of the Kingston Common Council and the body’s president called on Mayor Steve Noble to “clearly denounce the illegal drug trade and violence of all types.”
The letter to Noble — signed by Council President Andrea Shaut, Majority Leader Reynolds Scott-Childress and members Jeffrey Ventura Morell, Doug Koop, Rita
Detective Lt. Thierry Croizer said the man was struck twice by gunfire and that there was only one shooter “that we’re aware of."
Worthington, Tony Davis and Steve Schabot — said the mayor should “work closely with the Common Council to engage in true community development of effective and widely supported safety practices” and “develop a fully articulated plan that includes 1) clearly defined benchmarks for demonstrating progress, and 2) specific dates for reaching them.”
Reached by phone Monday afternoon, Ulster County District Attorney David Clegg declined to discuss details of Sunday’s homicide or a possible motive, saying he “hesitated to get in the way of the investigation.”
Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan’s office said Tuesday that Ryan, Clegg, Noble, county Sheriff Juan Figueroa and others will “discuss the recent string of shootings in the city of Kingston” during an event at noon Tuesday at 695 Broadway in Midtown, adjacent to where Sunday’s homicide occurred.
Noble’s office said Kingston Police Chief Egidio Tinti also will attend.
The fatal shooting on Sunday was the fifth incident of gunfire in Midtown Kingston since Feb. 27, and the second to claim a life:
• On March 17, Raymond D. Robinson, 19, shot himself with another man’s gun at 358 Broadway in Midtown Kingston in what police believe was an accident. Robinson died the following day at MidHudson Regional Hospital in Poughkeepsie. Oryin Leonard, 20, who lives at the Broadway address, was charged with unlawful possession of a weapon, a misdemeanor, in that case.
• On March 11, a 31-yearold man, whose name was not provided, was shot in the right arm at about 10:30 p.m. while he was on a porch at 79 Elmendorf St.
• On March 1, shots were fired in the parking lot alongside the CSX railroad tracks between Smith and Railroad avenues.
• Two days earlier, on Feb. 27, several shots were fired on Elmendorf Street near Broadway.
On Dec. 17, 2020, 12-yearold D’Janeira Mason died after shots fired into her family’s apartment at 60 Van Buren St. struck her and her 10-year-old brother. The boy, Dasane Mason, suffered a gunshot wound to an arm.
Two men, Robert Nikia “Nikki” James, 46, and Gilbert Thomas, 24, were arrested in that case and
charged with second-degree murder and other crimes.
There also was a shooting on Elmendorf Street on Oct. 7, 2020, in which a man was struck in the back and left leg. Two men have been indicted for attempted murder in that case.
Sunday’s homicide was the sixth fatal shooting in the city of Kingston since the fall of 2019. The first two, in late October and early November 2019, have not yet resulted in any arrests.