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Gun violence in Rochester has fallen to its lowest level in more than eight years, Mayor Malik Evans said during an update on citywide public safety.
According to the Rochester Police Department’s rolling 365-day shooting total, Rochester had 150 shootings over the 365-day period that ended May 10—the lowest number since December 2018, and a 95 percent decline from peaks reached in 2021 and 2022.
RPD also reports that 2026 has seen 38 shooting victims and one homicide so far. Compared with the same period in 2025, the department says total shootings fell 16 percent, fatal shootings declined by 88 percent, and total homicides were down by 82 percent.
The Beacon’s quarterly analysis of reported crime incidents has shown declines in these areas as well. Homicides in the first quarter of 2026 were at a low not seen since nearly a decade ago in 2017 and 2018.
Rochester continues to deploy a variety of methods to suppress citywide gun violence, whether through a state of emergency or through coordination with the state’s Gun Involved Violence Elimination initiative.
Over the past five years, GIVE has been the city’s primary approach to funding anti-violence measures by upgrading RPD technology, expanding community engagement, and placing greater focus on workforce development.
Evans said he does not plan to suspend the city’s gun violence state of emergency. The gun violence state of emergency was launched in the summer of 2022 and gave the city administration wide-ranging powers in fighting gun violence. Since then, Evans has renewed it monthly (45 times).
The measure allows quick mobilization of services by eliminating the need for authorization from anyone other than the mayor’s office. It also gives the power to regulate traffic, establish curfews, control pedestrian movement, and sanction property closures. So far this year, the city has issued closure orders to six properties.
“I’m gratified by these numbers, but I’m still not satisfied,” Evans said. “I want to be at zero.
“We’re going to keep our foot on the gas,” he added about the expected crime spike in summer. “We know that when summer comes up, it’s a very busy time. So, we’ll be ready and prepared for summer.”
Amid these encouraging numbers, both Evans and RPD chief David Smith also spoke about elevated levels of domestic violence.
“There continues to be troubling signs below the surface of these numbers,” Evans said. “We still have a major issue in this community as it relates to domestic violence.”
The mayor said Rochester has the second-highest rate of domestic violence incidents in New York, only behind Erie County. In the first quarter, he said, there were 811 intimate partner domestic violence incidents documented, with 22 involving a firearm.
To tackle this issue, Smith said that the RPD’s Goodman section is currently piloting the use of the Danger Assessment for Law Enforcement on patrol details. DA-LE is an 11-question, evidence-based risk assessment tool that identifies which victims are at the highest risk. He added that the Clinton patrol section would soon be using DA-LE and the goal is to institute the procedure across the city.
DA-LE is part of the Statewide Targeted Reductions in Intimate Partner Violence initiative, a strategic approach to combat domestic violence that began last year. Since then, Smith said RPD has had 139 operations to apprehend intimate violence offenders with 103 arrests.
“These are offenders that are identified through (DA-LE) as the highest risk offenders with their victims being at the highest risk of being victimized again,” said Smith. “These are the folks we make an active effort with our (enforcement) partners.”
RPD’s bus patrol project is now in full swing, with fines being issued for vehicles violating school bus laws. Since Jan. 20, there were over 10,892 violations issued, with April alone accounting for 3,473 of them, Smith said. The highest concentration of bus violations is along Lake Avenue near the Maplewood neighborhood.
“(Lake Avenue) is a speedway and you see it in those repeat bus offenders,” said Evans, referencing a 6.7% repeat offender rate. “Don’t pass a school bus or you will be ticketed.”
Narm Nathan is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer and a member of the Oasis Project’s inaugural cohort. Jacob Schermerhorn is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer and data journalist.
The Beacon welcomes comments and letters from readers who adhere to our comment policy including use of their full, real name. See “Leave a Reply” below to discuss on this post. Comments of a general nature may be submitted to the Letters page by emailing [email protected].
Not to beat a dead horse, but here’s a good example of my point — https://www.whec.com/top-news/police-man-found-shot-in-the-upper-body-near-colvin-street-on-thursday-injuries-are-non-life-threatening/ Thankfully, no fatality, but a shooting nonetheless. Does this situation illustrate a successful violence prevention program at work? It seems that it’s pure luck (good fortune for the victim) that the shooting did not result in a fatality.
An anomaly. Per the graphs, fatalities are way down in Q1 2026 versus Q1 2025, from 7 to 1. But overall shootings have increased, rising to 32 from 21. It raises a question: is it mainly chance that individuals did not die in shootings? Don’t get me wrong: death is the ultimate finality. It’s great to see deaths decline. But the number of shootings has increased. That seems to be the main point, though the article doesn’t mention it. (Unless I missed it.)
Whatever preventive steps/programs they’re running could have no possible effect on survival rates from shootings. That’s a matter for RPD, EMTs and ER and medical staff — and good fortune.
My hunch is, no one knows how to prevent shootings. It’s just too easy to get a gun — or make a gun (ghost guns.) And it’s far easier to harm someone with a gun (you can shoot at a safe distance) than with a knife or other potentially deadly object, e.g. screwdriver, broken bottle, brick, etc that puts you close to your intended victim — arm’s length. In that regard, a gun is the ideal weapon (maximum personal safety — distance — plus lethality. Hard to imagine people not choosing the ideal tool to safely inflict pain, esp if that tool is readily available.