
Utica Police Arrest 6 Individuals Under the Age of 21 Following Investigation
With every day that goes by in the City of Utica, police seem to be arresting more and more young people for violent crimes. Recently, a shots fired investigation led to the arrest of 6 individuals under the age of 21. The youngest of the 6 was a 17-year-old juvenile.
Many feel this problem of youth violence stems from laws passed in Albany like "Raise the Age," but whatever the reason is a solution is far from sight. Utica Police officials announced the arrests Thursday following a lengthy investigation by the UPD Gun Involved Violence Elimination (GIVE) Unit.
According to officials, back on June 29th at approximately 12:40 a.m. officers responded to the area of Broadway Street between Columbia and Court Streets for a "shots fired" investigation. The scene of this incident is walking distance from the new Wynn Hospital. Upon arrival officers noticed a large group present and during their initial canvas of the area, learned an argument had occurred and someone had fired several rounds from a weapon at other individuals, according to police.
At that time, police say the investigation was handed over to the Utica Police GIVE Unit and they got to work. Through surveillance footage and over the course of several interviews, police say investigators established their suspect. It wasn't until July 10th, 2024 that members of the GIVE Unit were parked at the intersection of Oneida Street and Pleasant Avenue. While parked officers noticed their suspect in the forementioned shots fired incident and another party wanted on an outstanding warrant exit a vehicle. Upon noticing police, officers say the two young men and four others in the vehicle fled on foot.
Police say backup was called in as a pursuit began and eventually all 6 individuals were taken into custody without much incident. It was also learned by police during the subsequent pursuit and arrest that the vehicle the 6 males exited had been stolen from Clinton Place in Utica back on June 27th.
In the end the following individuals were arrested and are facing a number of charges.
Credit is owed to the members of this important Utica Police unit and hopefully they continue to safely remove illegal firearms and dangerous individuals from our streets.
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