Albany mayor says crime rate is down overall despite recent shootings

Despite three separate shootings in Albany this past weekend, Mayor Kathy Sheehan says the city’s crime rate is trending in the right direction.

Much of the violence was captured on surveillance cameras mounted outside Paesan’s Pizza, near the corner of Madison and Ontario.

These cameras were rolling around 4 a.m. on Saturday morning when two individuals pulled out concealed weapons and began shooting at each other. A man was hit. The other fled.

A 20-year-old Bronx man was arrested and charged while being treated at Albany Medical Center.

Despite this and two other shooting incidents in the city last weekend, including a homicide on North Pearl Street, Mayor Sheehan said violent crime is trending downward in the city, leading the mayor to declare that the police strategy is working for now.

“We had seen a significant decrease in violence in the Madison Park area of ​​Pine Hills due to targeted efforts. Unfortunately, an incident occurred. It involved two individuals who are not from Albany,” Sheehan said. “They came to our community. They engaged in an act of violence. Our police were there, literally, around the corner from where this act occurred. They already have one individual in custody and we are confident we will have a second individual in custody as well.”

The mayor was talking about a decrease in violent crimes based on preliminary crime statistics. She said she and Chief Eric Hawkins will do a full review and hold a press conference late next week to outline all of their numbers.

NewsChannel 13 will bring you these numbers on WNYT.com and in our later newscasts as soon as‘was released.