New York AG investigates murder-suicide involving Greece police officer. What we know now
An off-duty police officer shot two women − one fatally − before killing herself Monday night at a northwest Rochester home, according to Rochester police.
Police identified the officer as Tiffani Gatson, 29, a member of the Greece Police Department.
Lt. Greg Bello of the Rochester Police Department said that emergency responders were called to a residence on Costar Street, near Saratoga Avenue, around 7:20 p.m. after multiple people were shot at the home.
According to police, Gatson shot two other women before fatally shooting herself. The three were found outside the home, according to the state Attorney General's Office.
The apparent murder-suicide marked Rochester's 72nd homicide of 2022.
Angely Solis killed on Costar Street in Rochester NY
Angely Solis, 27, died at the scene and Gatson died at Strong Memorial Hospital shortly after she arrived, Bello said.
The surviving shooting victim, a woman in her 30s who was also taken to Strong, was shot several times in the upper body. Her injuries were not considered life-threatening and she was recovering at Strong as of Tuesday morning.
Police did not release the name of the woman who survived.
Was anyone arrested in Costar Street shooting?
No. Investigating officers determined that the shooting stemmed from a "domestic related altercation," Bello said. He did not clarify the relationship between the trio. He said on Monday night that there was "no danger to the public."
Because the shooter was a "law enforcement officer in a neighboring jurisdiction," the state Attorney General's Office was called to the scene and is investigating the incident, Bello said.
Since 2015, the Attorney General's Office of Special Investigation has been tasked with investigating and, if warranted, prosecuting offenses arising from any incident in which the death of a person is caused by a police officer, whether on or off duty.
Late in the afternoon Tuesday the Attorney General's Office acknowledged its investigation into the killings. According to a statement from the Attorney General's Office, Rochester police recovered a 9 mm handgun "at the scene, which they determined is not Ms. Gatson's service weapon."
Costar Street is a residential road that connects Dewey and North Plymouth avenues and is several blocks south of Jefferson High School and the Edgerton Recreation Center.
Who is Tiffani Gatson?
Tiffani Gatson joined the Greece Police Department in September 2018 and was the first African American woman on the force. She was a road patrol officer, according to Greece officials.
Gatson grew up on the west side of Rochester and graduated from Wilson High School.
In 2015, she graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology with a degree in criminal justice. She briefly worked for the Monroe County Sheriff's Office in the jail before she was hired in Greece.
Greece police release statement on Costar Street shooting
In a statement released Tuesday, Greece Police Chief Michael Wood expressed the department's "collective sorrow and grief" with respect to the incident on Costar Street.
"Unfortunately, we have seen events of this nature occur all too frequently and struggle to find answers in the aftermath," Wood said. "The effects are far-reaching, from those who have lost loved ones to others throughout law enforcement organizations when a police officer commits such a horrible act, to our entire community. It is simply devastating, and so many people are hurting right now."
Allowing Greece officers and staff to grieve and receive support "is of paramount importance to me."
Wood also extended his condolences to the families of everyone involved and anyone impacted "by this unspeakable tragedy."
2022 homicides in Rochester NY
Rochester saw 81 homicides in 2021 when the Flower City had the fifth-highest homicide rate in the nation. The 2022 tally is 72. The city is currently averaging a slaying every 4.4 days in 2022, a pace slightly ahead of last year's.
Monday's slaying was not the first murder-suicide involving a police officer in the Rochester region this year. In March, off-duty Rochester Police Department Sgt. Melvin Williams fatally shot Janet Jordan, a 35-year-old 911 dispatcher, inside her Wetmore Park home before he killed himself in his car at a Henrietta park several hours later.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Tiffani Gatson, Angely Solis dead after murder suicide in Rochester NY
