UTICA -- Utica police make five arrests in shooting in broad daylight.
It happened around 3:18 p.m. Monday in the Kennedy Plaza. Police arrived to find Deandre Brown, 21, shot in the abdomen. He was taken to St. Elizabeth's Hospital.
Just after the shooting, an off-duty police officer was driving on Varick Street and happened to see a group of men running from the area. He called police headquarters and dispatchers advised him of the shooting. The officer started following the men and they split up and ran in different directions. He took one man into custody. The others were later caught as well. Police say one man was hiding a large machete under his sweatshirt.
Robert Lucas, 21, of Hope Street, Shawn Bryant, 19, of Hope Street, Paul Cookhorne, 16, of Mathews Avenue, Rasheed Saunders, 19, of Mathews Avenue, and and unnamed 15-year-old are all charged with gang assault, a felony. Cookhorne and the juvenile are also charged with criminal possession of a weapon.
