Schenectady police said Wednesday that a Kentucky man had been charged with second-degree murder after allegedly shooting a city resident dead in front of his Paige Street home two days before Christmas. The shooting was apparently over a woman, police said.
Sgt. Luciano Savoia said Raymond D. Van Clief, 28, of Louisville, Ky., shot Elijah S. Trainer, 29, with a handgun on the sidewalk outside a two-family home at 421 Paige St. He said there was a quarrel shortly before gunshots were reported at 5 p.m.
The woman the men fought over is the ex-wife of the suspect and the girlfriend of the victim, Savoia said. He said the suspect is in the military, but he didn’t know which branch. He was in town visiting family, Savoia said.
Responding officers quickly detained a pair of men they found near the scene of the shooting while the victim was being treated by paramedics from the Schenectady Fire Department. Trainer was brought to Ellis Hospital, where he was pronounced dead about a half-hour after the shooting.
Savoia said Van Clief was one of the two men who were taken into custody immediately following the shooting. He said the second man was interviewed by investigators but later released.
Investigators cordoned off half of the block surrounding the site where the shooting occurred on the edge of the Hamilton Hill neighborhood. One evidence technician used a metal detector to sweep the sidewalk and street, both of which were coated with a dusting of snow.
Trainer was shot just two days after his 28th birthday.
The Paige Street slaying is the first in the city since a bloody spate in June when there were three homicides reported over the course of two weeks.
The Paige Street killing marks the seventh in 2009. All but two have been solved by police.
Van Clief was ordered held pending his appearance in City Court. He is scheduled to be arraigned this morning, according to police.
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