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Eleven-month-old child dies in ‘senseless’ Syracuse shooting

Tom Magnarelli
/
WRVO Public Media
Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick and Syracuse Police Chief Kent Buckner.

An infant was killed and two children injured after a shooting on Syracuse’s southwest side Sunday evening. Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh said Sunday night’s tragic shooting that killed an 11-month-old child is the definition of senseless.

“How could anyone in their right mind point a gun at a car with children in it in broad daylight and pull the trigger,” said Walsh at a Monday briefing about the incident.

The infant was riding in the car with two other children and two women at the time of the incident. And while the two women weren’t harmed, the other children – two girls, three and eight years old – were injured but are expected to survive.

The shooting happened on the city’s southwest side, an area that Syracuse Police Chief Kenton Buckner said is quite familiar to the Syracuse Police Department.

“The southwest section of our city is an area that is all too familiar with violent crime,” said Buckner.

Syracuse saw a huge surge in gun violence in 2020. Now, with five homicides so far this year in the city, Buckner fears this year will follow that trend.

When Walsh got news about the incident, he went straight to the scene, which he wasn’t expecting to be only a mile from his house.

“This hits home in a very real way,” he said about his proximity to the scene.

While Syracuse, like most urban areas, has pockets of concentrated violent crime, Walsh emphasized that this is a community-wide problem.

“We need to take care of each other,” he said. “We need to take way better care of each other. And that's just not of our family and our friends, that's of our community.”

Buckner recognized that Syracuse does struggle with violent crime, but wants the public to know that the Police Department and city officials are doing everything they can to ensure the safety of the city.

“I still think that this is a good city,” he said. “We are a city with challenges. I knew that when I walked in the door as a police chief coming in from the outside, I knew exactly what I was signing up for.”

Both Buckner and Walsh are asking anyone with information about the incident to call the 411 hotline or directly call the criminal investigation unit at 315-422-5222.

Madison Ruffo received a Master’s Degree from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, where she specialized in audio and health/science reporting. Madison has extensively covered the environment, local politics, public health, and business. When she’s not reporting, you can find Madison reading, hiking, and spending time with her family and friends.