Gun violence
In Colonie, Albany, police seeking suspects in incidents this week
In Colonie, Albany, police seek suspects in two fatal incidents this week./
Friends and family in two communities are mourning victims of two cases of gun violence Monday and Tuesday. And in both of those investigations police were looking for suspects.
Xiaa Price would have turned 22 in just a few days.
But instead of preparing to celebrate his May 20 birthday,
Price’s close-knit, grief-stricken family is making plans to bury Price, who Colonie police say was shot to death in a car Tuesday in the parking lot of the Motel 6 on Curry Road near the border with Rotterdam.
Police said late Tuesday that autopsy results indicate Price died of a single gunshot wound and that the homicide investigation is ongoing, but offered no details about a possible suspect.
Earlier Tuesday, Deputy Chief Robert Winn said the “car accident was secondary to the driver being shot.”
He said town police officers tried to revive Price, that he was alive at the scene, but later succumbed to his injuries.
One of Price’s aunts, Sherain Rivera, said Tuesday afternoon that police told the family that based on surveillance footage it appears Price was trying to drive away with his younger brother in the car when Price was shot in the head, causing the car they were in to crash in the motel parking lot.
The motel is on the western edge of the town near the In
terstate 890 interchange with the state Thruway.
She said said Price was the middle child of her sister’s three children. Rivera recalled her nephew as “outgoing” and a “church boy,” noting her sister raised Price and his siblings in church. The family attends New Jerusalem Home of the Saved Church in downtown Albany.
Rivera said the family warned Price to be wary of fake friends.
“Sometimes you get with the wrong friends or people are just jealous of you and they do envious stuff, and my mother always told him ‘these people are not your friends,’” Rivera said.
Rivera said her 11-year-old daughter was Price’s favorite cousin. She said Price loved her cooking.
“He was always asking me, ‘aunt, what are you cooking?’ because I’m the chef of the family,” said Rivera, of Schenectady. “The last meal he had at my house a couple of weeks ago, he had some fried chicken, the yams, the macaroni and cheese, and he said, ‘aunty, you’re giving me the rest of these scraps, where’s the rest of the food?’ and I told him ‘you gotta be on time for good food.’”
Another aunt, Devorah Streeter, recounted Tuesday how she would always remind Price to pull his sagging pants up when he would stop by her residence.
“Xiaa was a good kid, he was extremely smart,” she added.
Man shot on First Street
In Albany, candles were placed near the spot where Danny Pearson Jr. was shot on Monday evening. Pearson, 51, of Albany was in his car on First Street when he was shot and died Tuesday at Albany Medical Center Hospital, city police.
Pearson was wounded at around 8:20 p.m., when shots were fired on First Street near North Lake Avenue and Judson Street, police said. Paramedics treated him at the scene and brought him to the hospital.
Police said Pearson was behind the wheel of a car. Police discovered a car crash when the arrived at the scene but it was unclear if that happened before or after the gunfire.
No arrests had been made by Tuesday evening.
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact the Colonie Police Investigations Division at 518-7832754 or Capital Region Crime stoppers at 1-833-ALB-TIPS or capitalregioncrimestoppers.com.