Suspect chased student and fired shots outside Frankin High school, no one injured

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Thursday was an extraordinary day of highs and lows. The highs of Damar Hamlin and his improving medical condition. The low was the 16-year-old who was chased and shot at as he ran to Franklin High School on Norton Street.

The 16-year-old wasn’t hit. Neither were any other students. As soon as the word got out to parents and guardians, they started showing up at the school to get their kids.

News10NBC’s Berkeley Brean: “What prompted you to come here?”

Tijuana Gibbs, mother of 12th grader: “I just got a phone call from her asking to come in and take her from school because there was an incident that happened.”

The incident was the shooting outside Franklin Upper School. Tijuana Gibbs told me she wasn’t willing to take a chance with her daughter.

Brean: “Where’s your head at? There was just a shooting outside your daughter’s school?”

Gibbs: “I’m not taking no second chances. I just came and got her I’m not going to wait for it to happen a second time.”

Rochester Police say they talked to the 16 who was the target. He told them he was threatened by at least one other person two blocks away and he was chased to the school where he was shot at.

Brean: “Did the shots come from a car driving down Husdon? Was the shooter on school property close to the doors?”

RPD Lt. Greg Bello: “The shooter was on school property, yes. So we found evidence of shots fired up near the school.”

Brean: “So they followed the 16-year-old up to the school doors.”

Bello: “Came across the lawn, yeah.”

Last year, 33 children 16 and under were shot in Rochester. Three of them died. RPD gathered all the security video in the neighborhood.

“It’s a school. There are cameras everywhere,” Lt. Bello said. “And that’s what we’re working through. There’s a lot of video we have to work through and try to identify.”

Had this shooting happened three years ago, there would have been a police officer at the school already. But the city budget in 2020 cut the money for school resource officers and removed police protection from city schools.

The school was placed in a lockout, which has since been lifted. The district says there will be an increase in police presence at the school campus during dismissal on Thursday as well as during arrival and dismissal on Friday.

Classes are taking place as normal but all exterior doors have been secured and are being monitored.

Both RPD and RCSD Safety and Security are still investigating. They’re asking anyone with information at call 911. RSCD says the Student Support Services team is at the school to help students or staff who may need assistance.