Albany is on track to reach pre-pandemic levels of illegal activity and firearms

Albany — ALBAY, NEW YORK. Albany police have arrested 26-year-old Jonte Wanner for the shooting and killing of 49-year-old Mohammed Pocki.

Pokey was found with multiple gunshot wounds on October 20 in a building at 260 North Pearl Street.

Wunner was arrested by Albany police on Monday and charged with murder and two counts of being a felon in possession of a weapon.

Wanner also had a loaded handgun that was stolen during his arrest.

The Oct. 20 shooting was one of many that weekend in the city of Albany.

The killing topped the list of “notable incidents” during Tuesday’s Albany Crime Report with Mayor Cathy Sheehan and Police Chief Eric Hawkins.

Second on the list was a pack of 8 or 9 mixed breed pit bulls that attacked and killed a man in the backyard of a home on Central Avenue.

The investigation is ongoing.

“I would anticipate some charges,” Chief Hawkins said. “I don’t know what it is yet. We are working very closely with the DA’s office on this case, and it is a difficult case.”

According to city code, up to 5 animals are allowed per residence.

The 23 dogs, including 15 puppies, were taken to the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society, where they remain, according to the chief.

Several arrests were also announced in connection with various incidents, including Cheick Diarra, who was arrested during the Madison Park shooting. Danielle Perkins, who was arrested for sexually assaulting the Six Mile Water Pipeline. Tyvon Jackson/Juwan Giles/16-year-old boy arrested for shooting in Washington Park.

“While people may still choose to bring guns into our city and commit acts of violence, it is highly unlikely that they will leave our city without being arrested and prosecuted for those activities,” Mayor Sheehan said.

Chief Hawkins noted that many recent crimes have occurred in or near hot spots or high activity areas.

“Many of these arrests occurred immediately after these incidents,” Hawkins said. “Hotspot policing is working with our community to address some of these issues, and we are excited to move forward to work with our community to ensure low activity in existing hotspots and identify others that may arise.”

According to Albany police, the number of shooting incidents and shooting victims is up compared to this time last year.

“At this point, we’re up 16 percent in shooting incidents over last year, and we’re up 15 percent in fatalities over last year at this time,” Chief Hawkins said.

On average over a 5-year period, shootings and shooting victims have been trending down, Chief Hawkins says by the end of the year he expects the data to show a significant decrease.

“Every shooting in our city is one too many shots, every homicide is one murder too many, every person who is the victim of a violent crime in our city is one person too many,” Chief Hawkins said. “The fact is that we are moving in a positive direction. We move where we need to go. Four years ago we had a crisis. This was not a crisis that we created, this was a crisis that every community in this country had to deal with, and we understood that it would not happen immediately, it would take time, because the problems that we saw in 2020 were deep-rooted.” .

The main role is played by removing weapons from the streets. During this year, 163 units of illegally stored weapons were seized.