HOMICIDE PROBE WRAPPING UP, DA SAYS
Ulster County District Attorney David Clegg says ‘A lot of progress is being made’
KINGSTON, N.Y. » Law enforcement officials are remaining mum about the details of a shooting Thursday that claimed the life of 12-year- old D’janeira Mason, but say they are close to wrapping up the investigation.
“A lot of progress is being made,” said District Attorney David Clegg. “Things
are coming together.”
Clegg said he was “in a spot where I can’t talk about this,” but asked the community to be patient just a little longer “and all will become clear.”
“I can talk freely soon, but not yet,” he said.
The 12-year-old and her 10-year-old brother were in their home in a rear apartment at 60 Van Buren St., in Midtown, at about 8 p.m. Thursday when a gunman fired into the house striking the two children in what Clegg called “a depraved” attack.
“The house was targeted, based on the people who lived there,” Clegg said.
He said the two children and their mother lived in the home, but declined to say whether he believed the mother was the target or if other people lived in the home with the trio.
The girl, a seventhgrade student at Bailey Middle School, died at the scene. Her brother, who is in fourth grade at George Washington Elementary School, was struck in the arm by the gunfire. He was taken to Mid-Hudson Regional Hospital, in Poughkeepsie, and is expected to recover from his injury.
Kingston police initially responded to the shooting but turned the investigation over to the state police due to manpower issues within the Kingston Police Department.
On Monday, Detective Lt. Thierry Crozier said that although the state police have taken the lead in the investigation, Kingston police are still involved in the investigation, although he declined to shed additional light on the investigation.
“I am not going to comment on somebody else’s investigation. You will have to speak to them,” he said.
In an email Monday, Trooper Steven Nevel, the public information officer for state police Troop F would say only that the investigation is “ongoing.”
“Troopers and investigators are following all leads,” he said. “At this time, there is no new information.”
The shooting has rocked a city that has seen its share of shootings over the past several months.
In statements last week, Mayor Steve Noble called the shooting “every parent’s worse nightmare,” and in a statement posted on social media by Common Council President Andrea Shaut the Common Council offered condolences to the family and friends and vowed to work with the community to “seek solutions to move past violence, to move past the division that has become undeniable and to move us to a community where all can thrive.”
A Go-Fund me page set up to by Chade Mason, who identified herself as D’janeira’s sister, had garnered $26,290 by Monday evening.
In a post accompanying the fundraiser, Mason called her sister a “sassy, loving little girl with such a big personality.”
School district Superintendent Paul Padalino on Friday said the district responded early in the morning with counseling for students, teachers and families.
Thursday’s shooting of D’janeira is the fifth homicide in the city since October 2019. Only one of those to date has resulted in an indictment.