UPDATE, 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 4
At 4:51 p.m., the county District Attorney’s Office filed eight felony charges against Thomas Johnson III, 38, DA Sandra Doorley said during a press conference which just ended. Johnson is accused of shooting and killing Officer Daryl Pierson.
Johnson, who is being held at Strong Memorial Hospital, faces a charge of aggravated murder, a charge of aggravated attempted murder, three counts of first-degree assault, and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon. Doorley said once the press conference was over, Johnson would be arraigned at the hospital.
Rochester Police Chief Michael Ciminelli said Pierson and his partner, Officer Michael DiPaola, responded to help other officers look for a suspect who fled from a traffic stop. When they spotted a man matching the suspect’s description, Pierson got out of the car and approached him. The suspect ran down Hudson Avenue and Pierson chased after, Ciminelli said. (The Rochester Police Department released this synopsis of the incident.)
The suspect, Johnson, allegedly fired two shots from a .25-caliber pistol; one struck Pierson and the other struck a bystander, according to Ciminelli.
Johnson is a convicted felon, which means it’s illegal for him to possess a pistol in New York, Ciminelli said. Johnson has previously been convicted of violent crimes, and had an outstanding parole violation warrant at the time of the incident, Ciminelli said.
UPDATE, 12:10 p.m. — Officer Daryl Pierson, an eight-year veteran of the Rochester Police Department, was shot and killed last night during a pursuit on Hudson Avenue in the city. Pierson, 32, leaves behind a wife and two children, ages 3 months and 4 years old.
The shooting happened around 9:25 p.m. in the area of 955 Hudson, said Police Chief Mike Ciminelli during a press conference this morning.
The suspect in the shooting is Thomas Johnson, a parolee. Johnson was wounded when Pierson’s partner, a seven-year veteran of the force, returned fire, Ciminelli said. An innocent bystander was also wounded, he said.
Pierson was also a member of the Army National Guard. During his time with the RPD, he was recognized for his efforts in removing illegal firearms from the street, Ciminelli said. He also received a good conduct award and was an officer of the month.
“Our heart is heavy,” said Mike Mazzeo, president of the police union, during the press conference. “We’ve lost a brother. We’re a close-knit family and this is a difficult time for all of us.”
Mazzeo said that the department would “stand close together” as it tries to heal.
Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren had strong words for Pierson’s shooter and others who commit violence on the city’s streets. They will be held accountable, she said.
“We will not sit by and watch you wreak havoc on our city,” Warren said.
Warren said she wants to work with state officials to look at the issue of parolees returning to the city. And she said she wants a renewed emphasis on getting illegal guns off the streets. She said she’d work with the Rochester Police Department, Project Exile, and other groups on this effort.
The RPD will hold a press conference with the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office later today to share further details on the case.
ORIGINAL STORY
A Rochester Police Officer was reportedly killed overnight in an exchange of gunfire. The officer has not yet been identified. The suspect, according to local media, is Thomas Johnson, a parolee.
Two others were also reportedly injured in the incident which occurred in the area of Hudson Avenue and Baumann Street in the city’s Northeast quadrant.
The unnamed officer is reportedly the first to be killed in the line of duty in Rochester in 55 years.
“The City Council would like to offer our sincere condolences to the family of the RPD officer that was killed this evening while on duty,” says Council President Loretta Scott in a statement. “Our community owes a debt of gratitude to this officer who ultimately gave his life protecting and serving our city.”
We ask that you keep the officer’s family, and the officers of the RPD in your thoughts and prayers as they, and our community as a whole, mourn this tragic loss,” Scott said.
This article appears in Sep 3-9, 2014.
It is an outrage that a police officer has been killed. It is an outrage any time ANYONE is killed. Sadly when dozens of RPD officers were racing to the hospital last night to be part of the “Thin Blue Line”, swaths of the city of Rochester were unprotected. Murderers, rapists, robbers and drug dealers were free to ply their trade. There are 9 unsolved homicides from this year. Dozens and dozens of officers don’t respond when other people are shot and killed. Hell, you’re lucky half the time if police show up at all. But when one of their own, who CHOSE to be a police officer and was armed, is injured, all Hell breaks loose. Hell hath no fury like a police officer disobeyed. We live in a police state. I pray for the officer’s family. But I also pray for our city, b/c too many police seem to have better things to do than their jobs, keeping us safe. No one should be above the law. But as Ferguson and Rochester have shown, police think they are above the law b/c they enforce the law. Hogwash. We must reclaim our streets from every criminal. Even if sometimes they wear blue.
Um do you even know ANYTHING about the story!?!?! How was this officer going “above the law”? I think the a$%hole that took off from a traffic stop, who ran from police officers on foot, who shot at police, who is a convicted felon, who had a warrent out for his arrest for violating probation, who had a gun on his person(which is illegal if you’re a convicted felon BTW) thinks he is ” above the law”!!! He ran because he knew he was going to be arrested!!! Your comment is ignorant and disgusting!!!
We certainly do not live in a police state. Sure, cops respond with extra manpower when one of their own is hurt or killed. They know the risks, but they’re not about to take it without doing all they can to prevent it. When you shoot at a cop, you’re willing to do anything or hurt anyone to get what you want. A bystander was hit too. Police are human and make mistakes and I believe they should be held to a higher standard than citizens, and I believe they are. If you have a problem with a police officer’s actions you should take it up with the department.
Sean – be happy we live in America. Because if we truly lived in a police state (you allude to a Gestapo like environment) you would be dragged from your home and shot in the street for your comments, ignorant and inflammatory as they are.
Rest in peace Officer Daryl Pierson, thank you for your service sir.
“sean” wrote: “We must reclaim our streets from every criminal. Even if sometimes they wear blue.”
I don’t know where to begin with this post. An officer is killed doing his job in a crime-ridden hell hole and he’s at fault? Really? He is killed by a felon who has been coddled by the criminal justice system, allowed to plead down charges, released into our community before he should have ever been allowed out of jail and left completely unsupervised. And despite our much touted “strictest gun laws in America” he gets himself a handgun almost immediately after being released on parole. (Gee, I thought there was a background check and a waiting period to get a gun). Listen “sean”, its people like you with an attitude and an axe to grind who hate the police that are the problem; people who criticize the police and never appreciate the work that they do – including certain self-appointed “community leaders” for example. The next time you are in trouble, call them instead of the police department.
I do not “hate” the police. Clearly no one actually read my post. The first sentence is quote “IT IS AN OUTRAGE THAT A POLICE OFFICER HAS BEEN KILLED.” Police officers are human beings like anyone else. Many of them work very hard and dangerous jobs. But I didn’t ask him to become a police officer. He had a weapon. There are many police officers in Rochester who walk around as if they are untouchable. Look at Ferguson. Mostly peaceful protests turned into a police riot. Police are to preserve order and keep peace, not create disorder, which is what they did in Ferguson. I have myself been hassled by the county sheriff’s office. What was I doing? WALKING DOWN A PUBLIC SIDEWALK MINDING MY OWN BUSINESS IN BROAD DAYLIGHT. Let me repeat that: I was WALKING DOWN A PUBLIC SIDEWALK MINDING MY OWN BUSINESS IN BROAD DAYLIGHT. I wasn’t engaged in ANYTHING illegal, unlawful or even suspicious, unless walking down a public sidewalk is now illegal. I had two armed deputies (I was not) approach me, demand to see my I.D. (unconstitutional), demand to know where I was going (absolutely none of their business, since it was uh… HOME), ask me if I had any weapons on me (Of course they both had pistols, Tasers and pepper spray on them) then was illegally detained while they called H.Q. to run a background check on me for absolutely no reason (I’ve never committed any criminal act of any sort). They were rude and insolent. These are public servants. I hire the people by my votes (county executive, county sheriff, county legislature) who hire them. My taxes (and yours) pay their salaries. And you all above dare to have the insolence to question ME? You are all docile sheep ready to be led to slaughter. I would suggest you all read Davy V BlogSpot. And quit giving me crap because I have the cajones to question authority while you all repeat the propaganda of the government (and no, I’m actually a political moderate but I support the Constitution).
OK, folks, this is a serious issue well worth discussing. But this has turned into a thread of personal insults, so we’re stopping the comments.