Afternoon News Brief
Written by Tom Tharp on February 26, 2024
The suspect in a robbery in Rochester Sunday night is in the hospital after being struck by the car of the alleged victim. Police said they were called to Monroe Avenue near South Goodman Street around 10:45 p.m. for a crash. A 41-year-old Rochester resident told police he was in his car when the suspect, a 21-year-old Rochester man, came up to his car and tried to take things out of his pocket. The alleged victim told police that he tried to drive away and ended up hitting the suspect with his car. Police said the suspect suffered an injury to his lower body and was later taken to Strong Memorial Hospital. They are being charged with attempted robbery.
A man was shot by police in Buffalo after he allegedly fired a shotgun at officers Saturday morning. Officers responded to a report of a man with a gun just before 10 a.m. on the 100 block of Reed Street. Upon arrival, police say they encountered a man with a shotgun and ordered him to put it down. According to police, the man fired one round and two officers fired back. The man was shot multiple times. The officers on scene rendered aid until the Buffalo Fire Department arrived, but the man was pronounced dead at the scene. On Sunday, Buffalo police identified the man as 58-year-old Edward Holmes of Buffalo. Demonstrations were held Sunday protesting the shooting and demanding justice for Holmes. The incident is under investigation by the State Attorney General’s Office.
State Attorney General Letitia James released body camera video Monday morning of a deadly encounter involving a state trooper and a teenager last fall in Ontario County. Police said Trooper Adam Latulipe responded to a home on State Route 64 in East Bloomfield Nov. 15 to investigate an anonymous tip received by the Department of Homeland Security alleging someone at the home was talking about killing someone. Latulipe began to interview the 17-year-old boy on a side porch, but police said the teen immediately pulled a knife and lunged toward the trooper, causing both of them to fall to the ground. The suspect allegedly charged at Latulipe with the knife in his hand, prompting the trooper to shoot the suspect. Latulipe is a four-year veteran of New York State Police. The teen’s identity hasn’t been released.
A controversial piece of police surveillance technology is no longer coming to Buffalo. In 2022, the city’s proposed budget for the following year included funding for ShotSpotter technology with a price tag of $364,000. ShotSpotter is a gunshot detection system that uses microphones in targeted areas to alert law enforcement about potential gunfire in real time. The Buffalo Common Council voted to reject the ShotSpotter inclusion in the 2023 budget but did allow for a free 6 month trial installation but that was never done. While police are generally proponents of the technology, research shows that 90 percent of the time it is fooled by firecrackers, cars backfiring, and construction noises.
A Batavia High School student has won the New York State Championship in Wrestling in Division 2. Casper Stewart beat Kieran Cullen of Greenville 4 to 2 to win the championship. He was greeted by the Batavia Police and Fire departments at the I-90 exit and escorted to the Batavia High School Sunday afternoon. His 279 wins is fourth all-time in career wins in New York State, and his 202 career pins rank him first all-time in the state and #4 nationally. He is committed to wrestling at Army West Point, a Division I program.
The price of Gas in Western NY is holding steady this week. In Batavia it sits at 3.23 which is the same as last week and down 5 cents from a month ago. The state average is also the same as last week at 3.30. The Average price of gas nationally is 3.26 which is down 2 cents from a week ago.
