Police are looking for possible connections between several recent gunfire incidents in Rochester after three people were injured in a shooting Thursday night.
Thursday's shooting, which was reported at the intersection of 56th Avenue and Kingsbury Street Northwest, a week after another incident in a man was shot in the back as he sat in a car in southeast Rochester.
Both incidents involved victims from the Somali community, according to Capt. Brian Winters, and are part of a "troubling pattern" of gunfire in Rochester.
Winters gave the following account of the Thursday incident:
Three people were sitting in a vehicle waiting to meet a friend about 10:25 p.m. when they were approached by at least two males. Shots were fired at the vehicle and it fled the scene.
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A fourth person who had been standing outside the vehicle, a 22-year-old man, ran away and was shot after being chased by the suspects. The man received a minor injury to an extremity, but did not require hospitalization.
The vehicle and three occupants went to the parking lot of the North Wal-Mart, where authorities were notified.
A 27-year-old passenger from Rochester was shot in the torso and remains hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. The 21-year-old driver, who lists no permanent address but is likely from Rochester, received a minor gunshot wound to an extremity and was released from the hospital.
The investigations into Thursday's incident and last week's shooting have been hampered by victims not providing detailed information to investigators, Winters said.
"There certainly must be associates or friends of these individuals who know what's going on," Winters said, asking community members to step forward to provide any information they might have to police.
He said police have yet to determine whether Thursday's gunfire and last week's shooting are related to gang tensions or an ongoing feud.
"We are looking very closely at the string of events we've had over the last couple of weeks to determine if there is a link," Winters said.
Information on the recent shooting incidents can be shared anonymously with authorities by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or by going to www.rochesterolmstedcrimestoppers.org.
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