Off-duty New York officer kills woman and wounds another, then fatally shoots herself, police say
An off-duty police officer in western New York state shot a woman to death, wounded another woman and then killed herself during a domestic dispute, police and officials said.
The shootings happened shortly before 7:30 p.m. Monday at a home in Rochester, police said. Police Officer Tiffani Gatson of the city of Greece, a Rochester suburb, shot 27-year-old Angely Solis and a second woman and then turned the gun on herself, Lt. Greg Bello of the Rochester police said.
Solis was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Gatson, 29, was taken to a hospital, where she died. The remaining victim was being treated at a hospital for gunshot wounds that police said were not life-threatening.
While Bello said the shooting stemmed from a domestic dispute, he did not provide details.
Gatson had been a police officer with the department since September 2018 and was recently assigned to the road patrol working the afternoon shift, the police department said in a statement.
Greece Police Chief Michael Wood said in a statement that he wanted to express his department's "collective sorrow and grief." Wood said his agency would cooperate with the Rochester department and the state attorney general's office in the investigation into the shooting.
By law, the New York Attorney General's Office of Special Investigation must assess all deaths caused by law enforcement officers. The office said preliminary findings indicate that a Smith & Wesson 9 mm handgun recovered at the scene was not Gatson's service weapon.
"Unfortunately, we have seen events of this nature occur all too frequently and struggle to find answers in the aftermath," the police department said in its statement. "The effects are far-reaching, from those who have lost loved ones to others throughout law enforcement organizations when a police officer commits such a horrible act, to our entire community. It is simply devastating, and so many people are hurting right now."