On Monday, October 5 a shooting was reported in the City of Newburgh on Benkard Avenue. Several shootings have happened over the past few weeks, leading Mayor Torrance Harvey to go on Facebook Live to make a statement on the events.

At this point in time, the Mayor didn’t have any further information regarding the Monday shooting.

However, in the recent weeks other shootings have included one with suspect Ryan Discua, a/k/a “Soda Pop,” 24, of New Windsor, the shooting of Jamie Fincher and a seperate shooting in the area at Recreation Park.

“I want to make a special appeal to the City of Newburgh to put the guns down,” said Mayor Harvey. “We are in a global pandemic, we are experiencing unprecedented times not only in the City of Newburgh but in America and around the world. We are on the eve of a presidential election and in the midst of a global healthcare crisis.”

The City of Newburgh Police Department is investigating the situation to find out “what, why and how” the shooting happened.

Mayor Harvey stated that if gun violence continues to rise in Newburgh that the City Government will collectively have to decide to increase the presence of law enforcement which would include New York State Troopers Task Force, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the City of Newburgh and Orange County sheriff’s department.

“There was a segment of our city that was very bothered and upset with the increase in police presence in our city when 55 gunshots rang out back in May during the self quarantine,” said Harvey. “We are asking everyone to please put down the guns … Gun violence in our city is going to put us in a situation where we need to increase police presence in our City.”

He is urging and asking the community to police itself by using dialogue to diffuse the situation and work on conflict resolution.

“Guns down, peace up,” said Harvey.

Newburgh also has an anti-violence organization, SNUG, guns spelled backward, that works to prevent shootings in the community. However, Harvey explained that it did not get as “robust funding as they wish it would’ve been.”

Additionally, the City Council recently voted to renew ShotSpotter, a “precision policing solution that helps save lives, deter crime, and make communities safer,” for the rest of 2020.