Rochester mayor holds Teen Town Hall on violence

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — Rochester’s new mayor held a virtual meeting with the city’s teens Tuesday night.

This comes just two days after a shooting claimed the life of a 14-year-old boy and the same night that a 15-year-old was seriously injured in a shooting.

Malik Evans says preventing violence all boils down to family.

"My job is to create those opportunities and conditions,” Evans said. “And the only way to do that is if we look at the whole family. So when we look at this, we’re going to look at the whole family and we think that that will also help prevent violence before it happens because once someone is dead, it’s too late."

Evans said it is important for the community to start investing in programs that offer opportunities for young people to prevent them from starting a life of crime.

The event was part of a series of three virtual events held for Evans’s inauguration.