Events at Armory on hold amid investigation after fatal concert

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – After the panicked stampede killed two women, the Main Street armory is now closed until further notice.

An update on the investigation into Sunday’s tragedy at the Main Street Armory was given Wednesday afternoon. Rochester Police Chief David Smith and Patrick Beath from Corporation Counsel held a briefing at 4 p.m. You can see the briefing here:

When the owner of the Armory didn’t show up to a scheduled meeting with the police chief and city attorney today, the chief denied the Armory’s license renewal. That shuts the place down.

The chief says the denial doesn’t imply wrong-doing. It’s just a guarantee that no one is going to get hurt at an event at the Armory while police and city figure out what happened.

The Armory’s owner faced an ultimatum from the chief: Voluntarily stop having events at the Armory while the investigation happens or have the chief deny the license. When the owner was a no-show, the chief denied the license.

Two people were killed after something panicked the crowd inside the Armory after the Sunday night concert and the crowd rushed to the front exits. One person is still in critical condition at Strong. Many others more were hurt.

“The owner declined to attend this meeting,” says Chief Smith. “This afternoon in the interest of Public Safety, I signed an order, denying the renewal of the application effective today.”

Brean: We spoke Monday morning, early Monday morning. What do you know now about what happened that you didn’t know what that time?

Chief: Well again – it’s really not something I want to get into at this point. Fairness in the interest of fairness and being impartial and fair. I think it would risk hampering any future outcomes if I were to speak to that.

The deputy counsel for the city said there are criminal and regulatory investigations. News10NBC has tried all week to reach the Armory owner. He never returned our calls. We never saw him outside the building. We left a voicemail with his lawyer about an hour ago.

RELATED:

• What we know about the stampede that killed two at concert in Rochester (March 8)
• Events at Armory on hold amid investigation after fatal concert (March 8)
• Woman killed in crowd surge at Rochester concert honored by medical staff for organ donation (March 8)
• More questions than answers for Rochester family of stampede victim (March 7)
• Second concert stampede victim dies, third victim fighting for her life (March 6)
• City officials investigate events at the Armory; Were rules followed? (March 6)
• People, parents recount stories of getting trampled inside the Armory (March 6)