Seven people were shot and two were killed in a pair of unrelated shootings within a mile of each other Friday afternoon in Albany, according to police.The first shooting occurred around 2:30 p.m. at the corner of 1st and Quail Streets in the city’s West Hill neighborhood.
The Albany Police Department says officers found 35-year-old Sharf Addalim shot in the back in the roadway. The Albany resident was later pronounced dead.
Neighbors at the scene told WAMC Addalim, who went by the name David, was the operator of the corner store where the shooting took place. Police said Addalim was an unintended victim.
Shortly after the shots were reported, five unidentified men, all in their 20s, appeared at local hospitals with wounds.
Police described the incident as a drive-by shooting.
On Saturday morning, APD announced an arrest had been made related to the incident at 1st and Quail. 21-year-old Jhajuan Sabb of Schenectady was apprehended and charged in connection with homicide. Sabb faces a murder charge and was scheduled to be arrainged Saturday morning in Albany Criminal Court.
Friday's second shooting took place around 6:30 p.m. near the corner of Henry Johnson Boulevard and Central Avenue, where 39-year-old Lashon Turner was found shot in the torso. He was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
At Albany Police Headquarters Friday night, Chief Eric Hawkins vowed to bring perpetrators to justice.
“One common theme that we are seeing with these homicides is that they are involving young men who are not resolving conflicts in non-violent and peaceful ways. It’s traumatizing the community. It’s very hurtful to this community. It’s very harmful to this community. And the police department as well as members of this community are outraged with this,” said Hawkins.
Investigations into both shootings are ongoing.
Hawkins said a response plan was in the works, saying it would include deputies from the county sheriff’s department and assistance from New York State Police to bolster patrols, similar to a response to violence last summer.
The corner of 1st and Quail was also the site of one of three shootings during a violent afternoon in June 2020.
Among those gathered near the crime scene on 1st and Quail Friday afternoon was city resident Juicy Boulevard, who said police have usually had a presence at the corner home to the Mr. Sam Food Market. She said local leaders are not doing their job to protect residents.
“We understand it's COVID. It's nothing to do," Boulevard said. "These kids don't have nothing to do. Y'all run around buying new police cars and new handcuffs and y'all ain't got nothing for these kids to do? And wonder about all these shootings taking place with these young kids?"
Independent mayoral candidate Greg Aidala’s family owns an auto shop on the same block. Aidala told WAMC Friday he heard the gunshots and said bullet casings were “everywhere.”
“We had dropped our doors because we knew it was a drive-by and we wanted to stay protected ourselves and we saw a car drive off," Aidala said from the scene. "It was just so fast how it happened. I was one of the first on the scene...I was trying to keep [a victim] alive with CPR and keep him comfortable until the professionals got here and the medics.”
UPDATE: Aidala later clarified to WAMC News that while he was on the scene of the shooting and called 911 Friday, he himself did not perform CPR on the victim. He says a retired EMT did so while awaiting first responders.
The second shooting of the afternoon, at the corner of Henry Johnson Boulevard and Central Avenue, occurred outside a senior housing complex.
Ward 3 Common Councilor Joyce Love Friday asked residents to “put down their guns and man up and talk about it.”
“When I get a phone call to tell me that my seniors at 45 Central Ave. are in jeopardy because there was a shooting in front of their place, they were devastated. I was devastated. I went over there to visit my seniors. This is not fair. This is not fair to anyone,” said Love.
Democratic Mayor Kathy Sheehan said the city will provide trauma counseling on Monday. Standing with other city and county officials at police headquarters, she asked residents to come together.
“We have to listen to one another, we have to create strategies to address this senseless violence. The proliferation of guns and the fact that individuals are arming themselves and then behaving in ways that then result in loss of life, has to stop. And we have to come together as a community and say that’s not who we are in the city of Albany,” said Sheehan.
The Albany-based Victory Christian Church on Friday offered a $5,000 reward for information on the shooting. The JC Club food patnry was struck by gunfire during the drive-by shooting.
VCC Pastor Charlie Muller on Saturday descibed the corner at 1st and Quail as the most violent in the city, and said leaders' calls for the violence to be addressed continue to go unheard.
City officials, who weeks ago held meetings with the F.B.I and U.S. Attorney’s Office, said they will use “every resource possible” at the local, state, and federal level to address the violence in a summer season that is just beginning.
NOTE: This post will be updated as new details are released.
