Shots-Fired Incident

ALL THREE SUSPECTS INDICTED AFTER SHOTS-FIRED INCIDENT

Ash Bailot/The Ithacan

BY CAITLIN HOLTZMAN

After multiple shelter-in-place orders at Cornell University and other local schools during the afternoon of Nov. 9, local police have apprehended the three suspects involved in a shots-fred incident. As of 8:50 p.m. Nov. 9, law enforcement offcials believed that the third suspect was no longer in the Cayuga Heights area. According to a press release, the original report of gunfre at 1:23 p.m. was believed to be between two groups of people, and law enforcement did not believe that the third suspect posed an immediate threat to the community.

In a press release from Nov. 9, police said that at 1:23 p.m. Nov. 9 the Ithaca Police Department (IPD) was dispatched to the 600 block of Hancock Street to respond to reports of gunfre between two groups of people. A vehicle that one of the groups left the scene in was spotted traveling north on New York state Route 13 near the Cayuga Heights exit. A Tompkins County Sheriff’s Offce (TCSO) vehicle spotted the suspect’s vehicle, and the pursuit ended when the vehicle left the road and ended up in the front yard of a residential home near the parkway and Klinewoods Road in Cayuga Heights.

After the vehicle stopped, one suspect was apprehended and two others fed on foot, the release stated. TCSO, IPD, Cayuga Heights Police Department (CHPD), Cornell University Police and the New York State Police all responded. After a perimeter was set, members of TCSO apprehended another suspect without incident.

The release stated that the third suspect was a 6’0”–6’1” tall Black male with dreadlocks extending past the shoulders, medium build and wearing a faded multicolored shirt. He was seen feeing the scene with a handgun in his waistband and was considered armed and dangerous. Law enforcement offcers found a handgun in the area the third suspect had fed from, as well as shell casings from the scene of the shots-fred incident in the 600 block of Hancock Street. The frst suspect was identifed as 22-year-old Trimard Chris Campbell of Utica, New York, and the second suspect was identifed as 22-year-old Ramello Quayshawn Jackson of Ithaca. After an hourslong search around the area, the third suspect was identifed as 20-year-old Sherrod Erskine of Rochester, New York. All three suspects were indicted with second degree criminal possession of a weapon, third degree criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of a frearm and frst degree reckless endangerment. In a release sent at 8:45 a.m. Nov. 10, Osborne released what charges both defendants received. Jackson was charged with Criminal Possession of a Weapon 3rd, which is a Class D Felony; Obstructing Governmental Administration 2nd, which is a Class A Misdemeanor; and Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance 7th, which is a Class A Misdemeanor. Campbell was charged with Criminal Possession of a Weapon 3rd and Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance 7th. He was also charged with Unlawfully Fleeing a Police Offcer in a Motor Vehicle 3rd, which is a Class A Misdemeanor. Both were arraigned and remanded to the Tompkins County Jail in lieu of a $4,000 and $8,000 cash or bond bail, respectively. At 2:09 p.m. Nov. 9, Cornell issued a shelterin-place order for its North Campus because local police were pursuing a man with a gun in Cayuga Heights. This alert came just two days after a bomb threat shut down Cornell’s central campus for fve hours.

Local schools — Ithaca High School, Boynton Middle School and Cayuga Heights Elementary School — were also placed under shelter-in-place orders. Some Ithaca High School students received anonymous phone calls the night of Nov. 8 from someone threatening to “shoot up” the school. Police determined that the threat was not credible. The orders were eventually lifted around 3:30 p.m. At 4:22 p.m., Cornell canceled all evening events on North Campus and the shelter-in-place order was eventually lifted at 7:13 p.m. During the shelter-in-place in Cayuga Heights, Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit (TCAT) announced that it would not be serving certain stops along Triphammer Road between Jessup Road and Spruce Lane. After 5 p.m. TCAT resumed operation of Cornell Campus Routes 81 and 82 and Routes 30, 32 and 31–41. Residents were encouraged to provide any information they had to law enforcement agencies. Potential witnesses of the third suspect were told to contact either TCSO or CHPD. Witnesses of the shots fred incident on Hancock Street were urged to contact IPD.

Gun-Related Deaths in the U.S. from 2020

Source: Pew Research Center