Weekend News Brief

Deputies are searching for a group of suspects in a violent carjacking in Monroe County early Friday morning.  Just before 4 a.m., deputies responded to the Wegmans on Chili Avenue, where they say a woman in her 50s was confronted by a group of teens. One of them threw the woman to the ground before the group got into her car and fled the location, according to MCSO.  A short time later, deputies say they found the car being driven erratically with no lights on in the area of Campbell Street and Ames Street in Rochester. When they attempted to stop the vehicle, it fled west on Route 490.  A handful of law enforcement agencies joined the pursuit, which stretched into the towns of Greece and Brighton. However, the suspects evaded authorities and remain at-large, according to deputies.  The suspects are described as two teen boys and two teen girls, and the stolen car is reportedly a 2010 white Toyota Corolla with NYS license plate JAU-4222.

A man is now awaiting sentencing after being convicted in a shooting involving a Monroe County deputy at a restaurant last year.  A jury found 35 year old Alonzo Jones guilty of several charges in the incident, which took place at the Carrabba’s Italian Grill on West Henrietta Road the night of June 2, 2022.  After deputies responded to a report of a man with a gun in the bar, Jones reportedly picked up a revolver and attempted to shoot one of the deputies in the head while they were trying to de-escalate the situation. Prosecutors said the bullet narrowly missed the deputy, and other responding authorities returned fire at Jones before arresting him. Nobody was hurt during the incident.

2nd Amendment rights advocates celebrated a small victory Friday as the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that several parts of the Concealed Carry Improvement Act passed in 2022 would be struck down.  Specifically the court struck down the requirement that concealed carry applicants disclose all social media accounts, prohibited carrying permitted firearms onto private property without express permission, and said it is unlikely that the state’s law prohibiting guns from all religious institutions is constitutional but didn’t strike it down. The court left many of the “sensitive location” rules in place and disagreed with the trial court judge who last year ruled the majority of the act unconstitutional.  Governor Hochul and Stage AG Letitia James labeled this a victory for gun control and common sense gun reform while 2nd amendment advocates said all these restrictions do is make law abiding people less safe from those who break the law anyway.

A lockdown at the Attica Correctional Facility has been lifted 10 days after it went into effect.  This comes after a string of violent incidents, including a correction officer who was stabbed multiple times in the arm, and others who were assaulted. The state said it all happened after violence between two inmates quickly escalated.  During the lockdown, correction officers searched every inmate, cell and other areas of the maximum-security prison to recover any contraband.  According to the NYS Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, the number of attacks in prisons statewide have increased 96 percent from 2013 to 2022.