Kelvin Vickers trial: Victim’s family sits 10 feet from Vickers

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Kelvin Vickers is on trial for 24 charges, including the murders of two young men on July 20, 2022.

It was those murders that led Officers Tony Mazurkiewicz and Sino Seng to work in plain clothes and surveil the house in which Vickers was living.

The murders of Richard Collinge Jr. and MyJel Rand were part of the three days of brutal violence in the city. Ricky Collinge was shot and killed on North Clinton Avenue on July 20. Rand also was shot and killed. a third man was hit but survived.

Two months later, News10NBC’s Berkeley Brean spoke with Ricky’s dad.

Ricky Collings Sr. was in the front row of seats in the courtroom today, about 10 feet from Vickers.

As prosecutor Perry Duckles described the injuries to Ricky Collinge Sr.’s son, he pounded the seat in front of him in anger.

“No less than 12 separate projectiles and fragments were recovered in that procedure. He had been struck in he head, torso, arms and legs,” Duckles said.

Berkeley Brean: What is it like for you to be here today?
Lushone Siplin, Ricky Collinge’s mother: It’s a horrible experience. And I really wish I didn’t have to be here, but I’m going to be here every step of the way to make sure that I am a voice for my son who cannot be here today, and face one of his killers head-on.

The family of Tony Mazurkiewicz may talk to us when the trial is over.

Outside the courtroom and off camera, Rochester Police Chief David Smith told me being in court today was “heavy.”

In a statement Thursday afternoon, Chief Smith said, “With the start of today’s trial, my heart goes out to Lynn, the Mazurkiewicz family, and all members of the Rochester Police Department as they are forced to relive the horrible tragedy of July 21, 2022. I have the utmost faith in the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office in their prosecution of this case and that justice will be served.”

Berkeley Brean: I saw you and I saw the defendant and I thought, what must it be like to be sitting so close to somebody accused of …
Lushone Siplin, Ricky Collinge’s mother: I wanted to wring his neck. I want to jump. I want to scream. I want to yell.