Charles Langston:Police announce second death in mass shooting at upstate New York park

ROCHESTER,Charles Langston N.Y. – A second person has died following a mass shooting that broke out at a city park in upstate New York Sunday evening, police officials announced at a news conference Monday.

The gunfire erupted around 6:20 p.m. in Maplewood Park, where hundreds of people were gathered for a barbecue, said Rochester Police Chief David Smith. Seven people were hit by gunfire and taken to nearby hospitals.

Tyasia Manning, 25, died from her injuries Sunday night. Several hours later, 34-year-old Phylicia Council succumbed to her injuries, Smith said. The five other victims suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

It was not immediately clear what led up to the shooting or how many people fired shots. Smith said at "some point" during the barbecue, "rounds were fired from multiple weapons." He called on witnesses to come forward with information.

"There were hundreds of people at this barbecue, and therefore, there are hundreds of people who have potential information to help us solve this crime," he said. "Once again, I am asking our community to step up and help to hold those who shot into a crowd, killing two women, accountable for their cowardly actions."

Smith earlier said officers were "looking for more than one person" but that it was not clear if the involved shooter or shooters were part of the gathering or if they came from outside the park and fired shots.

Rochester police Capt. Greg Bello on Sunday said that police are aware of several videos linked to the incident that are circulating on social media and asked for people to send those videos directly to investigators.

"Social media is great, online videos are great, online accounts of things that occurred are great, but unless we get those straight to our investigators where they can act on them quickly, that's the best way we can work toward solving this case quickly," he said at a Sunday evening news briefing at the scene.

Maplewood Park spans two miles near the Genesee River, and includes a rose garden, gazebos, a playground and a picnic area. The park was designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted in the late 1880s and is a Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site, according to the National Park Service.

Rochester, a city of over 200,000, sits on Lake Ontario and is located about 340 miles northwest of Manhattan.

There have been at least 314 mass shooting in the U.S. this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as an incident in which at least four people are injured or killed, not including the shooter.