teen accused in '09's first Syracuse murder
Syracuse Police arrested the suspect in their first homicide of 2009, within 24 hours. Police Chief Gary Miguel says 16 year old Ja'Le C Johnson was found at 153 Lilac Street, across the street from the home were the victim lived.
Miguel says that about one o'clock on Sunday afternoon, 47 year old Casimir Snyder was getting in his car to pick up his wife from work. After being shot, the DPW worker went back in to his children and, according to Miguel, 'Told his family to call the police, I've been shot."
Snyder died within the hour at St. Joseph's Hospital, but an attending doctor provided a vital clue, letting investigators know that the bullet in Snyder's neck looked like it had been shot from a higher location. Investigators re-checked the neighborhood and found a home across the street with an open attic window---and a teen wearing a distinctive red sweatshirt, who'd been seen on the street just before the shooting was inside. When they checked the attic they found a shell casing, so they got a search warrant and found two sawed off 22-calibre rifles, along with ammunition in the teen's bedroom.
They have now charged Johnson with second degree murder. At the DPW, flags are at half staff, with the commissioner writing a note to workers about counseling options. Funeral arrangements for Casimir Snyder are still incomplete.
Police are just as concerned about an, as-yet unsolved, multiple shooting at a house on Kellogg Street. Chief Miguel says 'We're dealing with an after-hours joint," and the real concern is the number of underage teens and children who were there, at 3am, when the shootings happened.
15 year old Jamar Rolfe, of Park Avenue, was shot in the head---he had a handgun in his clothing. 16 year old Ismaeliz Pazzaro-Quinones, of Putnam Street, was also shot in the head. Both remain in critical condition. 16 year old Carlos Rivera, from Shonnard Street, is now in fair condition, and 32 year old Yari Boria has been released from the hospital.
Mayor Matt Driscoll says many of the violent incidents of the last couple weeks (including the double homicide in Lincoln Park on New Year's Eve) are believed to have drug or gang connections. He says 'there will be no resting on our part" until this small, violent part of the city is brought under control, and he believes cracking down on nuisance houses is part of the cure.
He also says parents must be more responsible and that it's outrageous that young people were at the Kellogg Street party.
MIguel says police are facing 'unprecedented violence', but that Syracuse is not alone. In Rochester, they've seen six homicides in the 8 days around the holidays.
