Albany police investigate 2 shootings, 1 of them fatal

ALBANY – Vonda Ford of Albany is fed up.

“They can stop this. You do it in the other neighborhoods. From this block, when you go down that street, it’s total different living, and we’re right here on the main strip,” she said.

Five men – ranging in age from 28 to 51 years old – were injured in gunfire at Central and Livingston Avenues at about 1:20 a.m.

At about 2:15 a.m. – less than an hour later – there was another shooting, also on Central, four blocks away. This time, it was fatal.

“But what if it was their kids?” said Ford. “It’s your kids, and we’re walking home. What about if it was your kids? You’ll do something then. Because it doesn’t matter. But Black lives do matter. When are we going to get some respect?”

Police are investigating whether the two shootings are connected.

Police say they found a 36-year-old Albany man outside 421 Central, but investigators believe he may have been shot inside the building.

People in the area tell NewsChannel 13 it’s an afterhours club.

Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan spoke about the homicide Tuesday morning.

“We’re in very early preliminary investigative stages, but I can say that the building in which that homicide occurred is a building with which we are familiar and that has been the source of code violations in the past,” she said.

Albany’s Department of Building and Regulatory Compliance told NewsChannel 13 on Tuesday afternoon that their inspector was called Tuesday to the address for an illegal social club being run on the first floor, and a cease and desist along with a stop work order was posted for the business being operated without permits.

City officials say they continue to fight unpermitted uses, and gun violence.

“We continue to go out there. We’re getting guns off the street quite frequently,” said Albany Police Department spokesman Steve Smith. “We still have a lot of work to do. This is our eighth homicide of the year. We have closed four of the eight homicides this year with arrests.”