As gun violence continues in Poughkeepsie, Delgado says 'NY is trying to lead the way'

The City of Poughkeepsie has seen nine incidents in which someone was injured by gunfire through the first five months of 2022.

Six have come in the last two months. That doesn’t count other confirmed shooting incidents in which shells were found but not victims.

And, two people have been fatally shot this year.

As the city continues to deal with a rash of violence that has been on the rise in the past three years, community and state leaders continue to search for answers.

"It's important that our communities feel safe and not in fear of their own lives." Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado said Friday, after speaking with the Rev. Jesse Bottoms at Beulah Baptist Church.

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The former Congressman for the 19th District from Rhinebeck said it is incumbent on the state to provide resources to keep kids safe and provide them with activities before and after school that keep them away from violence, especially in "marginalized" communities.

Delgado in the Queen City spoke with community stakeholders in a private session. The visit came three weeks after an 18-year-old killed 10 people at a supermarket in Buffalo, and one day after New York’s Legislature passed bills raising the age to buy a semi-automatic rifle to 21 and require a license for that purchase. Other new legislation will restrict civilian purchases of bullet-resistant armor and require new guns to be equipped with microstamping technology that can help law enforcement investigators trace bullets to particular firearms.

"New York is trying to lead the way," Delgado said.

But, community leaders acknowledge the problems start at home, both literally and broadly in the community.

"The breakdown of the family has a lot to do with this (problem)," Bottoms said,

He noted most young people only spend about 18-20% of their time at school, and some spend 2% of their time at a church. That leaves the family with the primary responsibility to turn children away from violence of all kinds.

But Bottoms said it is not a matter of placing blame.

"The city and the police department are doing everything they can," Bottoms said, "We are all on top of it. But there is no book on how to do this. We are playing it by ear."

A Poughkeepsie Journal investigation last year examined gun violence in the City of Poughkeepsie, finding a cycle of difficulty and unsustained relief efforts that has exasperated longtime residents. In recent years, school-aged residents have often been the perpetrators and/or victims of the violence.

Last year, the number of incidents involving injury spiked to 25, up from 15 in 2020 and nine in 2019, though just one person was killed by gunfire, after four in 2020 and three in 2019.

While the 2022 incident total, provided by city police, is below the pace of a year ago, the tally has grown of late. On May 19, a 17-year-old was shot in the arm in the middle of the afternoon walking between South White and May streets.

There have also been other shootings in which nobody was injured; on May 24 officers responding to a report of shots fired in area of Main, Manitou and Church streets found 21 shell casings, and video from the area depicted what police called “a group of high school-age subjects engaged in a gunfight with a least one other person while children and adults played and ate in the area.”

Bottoms said his church has done its part by hosting three of state Attorney General Leticia James' gun buyback events. Those removed 158 guns from Poughkeepsie's streets over the past year. he said.

Bottoms also has heard criticism of such events.

"We understand that many of these guns are being turned in by the so-called good guys," Bottoms said. "But it still gets these guns out of circulation, so they can't be stolen and used for bad purposes."

Mike Randall covers breaking news for the Poughkeepsie Journal, Times Herald-Record, and the Journal News/lohud. Reach him at mrandall@gannett.com  or on Twitter @MikeRandall845

This article originally appeared on Poughkeepsie Journal: Gun violence in Poughkeepsie addressed by Antonio Delgado