Utica Police continue to respond to string of shootings in City of Utica
By: Jennifer Lee
Updated: August 21, 2012
The Utica Police Department responded to a drive by shooting on the corner of Schuyler Street and Wager Street Monday night.
Police say they heard shots being fired in the area of Schuyler Street a little after 10 p.m. When they got to Wager Street the officers saw a gray Jeep shooting from the back seat window at a house on the corner of Schuyler and Wager Streets.
Neighbors say a mother was feeding her children at the time when shots were fired at her home on the 1100-block of Wager Street.
Police were able to make an arrest, but two suspects remain at large.
23-year-old Antar Handy of Brooklyn is charged with 2 counts of possession a weapon and 2 counts of possession of a controlled substance.
A .45 caliber handgun was found in the car as well as several packages of heroin and crack cocaine.
Neighbors say gun violence has been gradually getting worse and they say they're scared for their children's safety.
Utica Police say they have responded to half a dozen shots fired calls involving drive-by shootings over the last couple of weeks. According to the UPD, in August of 2011, they responded to ten shots fired incidents compared to August this year with 25 incidents.
And looking at the whole picture, last year police responded to 150 shots fired incidents vs. 2012 so far with 115 incidents.
Utica Police Chief Mark Williams says he predicted the increase in crime due to cut backs the department has faced.
"We went through a big change in this department. We lost a lot of personnel and supervision. We got back some supervision but it still is adequately short," explains Chief Williams.
Chief Williams says the department has been lucky for the past couple of months, but he says the crime is heating up and it's exposing their weaknesses. Chief Williams thinks the economy is also a major factor.
"The state is less apt to jail these people. We are finding a lot of these people on parole now," says Chief Williams.
And some of these so-called victims, Chief Williams says become tomorrow's suspects.
"Some of these people don't cooperate with the police. And without that cooperation a lot of times... people want to take matter into their own hands. It leads to more of the instances occurring," says Chief Williams.
The Chief says the department is doing the best it can with the resources it has.
