Police release new details about long gun found in East Rochester home, following hospital lockdown

UPDATE (9/15 at noon): Police said they closed their initial investigation into the East Rochester home of a man who created a suicidal video, which sent Rochester General Hospital on lockdown on Wednesday. Officers said they found the 34-year-old man dead inside the home.

The East Rochester Police Department found a long gun rigged to a trip wire inside the home. Police said the gun was pointed at the man who lived in the home and not at anyone who would have entered the room. They said the wire would have likely not have pulled the gun if tripped.

Police have not yet released the name of the man who they found dead.

The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office bomb squad was the first to respond to the East Rochester home. They flew drones through a window and used a robot to find the long gun and the wire.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (9/14) — The Rochester Police Department said an investigation into a potential social media threat against Rochester General Hospital led law enforcement to a house in East Rochester. At the home, they found a man dead.

The social media post that police investigated was an hours-long livestreamed video of a man making suicidal comments. The FBI alerted RPD to the video. A police investigation determined that the video didn’t make specific threats to Rochester General Hospital. RPD and other agencies were able to determine that the body they found was that of the man who made the video

After learning about the video, officers surrounded the outside of Rochester General Hospital and blocked off all three entryways. The hospital went into lockdown at 1:45 a.m. and the lockdown is now over. All hospital staff and patients are safe.

RPD Lieutenant Greg Bello said the video was reviewed by police and in a matter of a few hours, they responded to the East Rochester home. During the lockdown, the hospital only allowed emergency patients, their family members, and anyone that had an appointment. Visitors were kept outside. Rochester police will maintain an extra presence here at the hospital for the next few days.

“Moving forward we will continue to work with Rochester General Hospital coordinating safety plans to continue to ensure safe outcomes at this facility,” Bello said. “Thankfully, no danger was ever present at Rochester General Hospital, and all their employees, patients, and their families are safe.”

The Chief Medical Officer at RGH, Dr. Robert Mayo, thanked the hospital staff for remaining calm during the frightening situation.

“We are relieved and grateful to know the community is safe and we’ll do our utmost to support our employees as they emotionally go through this experience,” Mayo said.

Initially, there was a shelter-in-place order in the neighborhood around the East Rochester home. The order was lifted after the bomb squad investigation.

News conference at East Rochester from 10:50 a.m.

News conference at Rochester General Hospital from 10:30 a.m.

News conference with Captain Ryan Tauriello from 6 a.m.