At least 40 people were at the party where a 15-year-old Schenectady High School basketball player was shot and killed early Sunday morning, with most fleeing before they could be interviewed, police said today.
Police are tracking them down to interview them to find out exactly what happened, Assistant Schenectady Police Chief Patrick Leguire said today.
“We have a lot of people left to be interviewed,” Leguire told reporters this morning. “We have at least 40 people yet to be identified that were at this party.”
Leguire added a short time later, “We’re hoping somebody actually saw what happened that night and will tell us exactly what went down. At lot of people fled right after the incident happened, so we have to track all these people down and talk to them.”
Also today, police confirmed the identity of the victim as 15-year-old Eddie Stanley, a Schenectady sophomore who played on the school’s varsity squad.
Stanley was hit multiple times at about 2 a.m. Sunday. Leguire said Stanley appeared to have been hit a total of five times. No other injuries have been reported.
Leguire did not indicate whether police believe the shots came from the same gun or more than one gun.
Stanley was taken to Ellis Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Anyone with information on the case is asked to contact the city police crime tips line at 788-6566.
Also seeking information about the case were members of Stanley’s family.
Stanley’s cousin Shantisa Gentry went to the police station Monday morning with two relatives.
Gentry said she understood he was supposed to be at some kind of game, but left early.
“He went there to pick up one of his friends, and I guess supposedly, one of his friends started fighting and he was trying to help his friend and that’s when that happened to him,” Gentry said.
Neighbors reported that the party got out of control. One neighbor said he heard Stanley was helping as a disc jockey for the event, which he believed was a girl’s birthday party. He said someone accused a partygoer of stealing car keys. A fight then erupted, which escalated to gunfire, he said.
Leguire could not confirm that or other accounts, saying police were still trying to track down and interview witnesses.
Gentry said while she understood witnesses might be reluctant to come forward, she hoped they would. She said she believed several of Stanley’s friends were at the party.
She said she expected to post something on her Facebook page to urge people with information to come forward.
Gentry was already clad in a memorial white hoodie and hat, expressing condolences to the family and saying that Stanley was gone but not forgotten.
She expected such memorials to be common at Stanley’s funeral. Details of the services have yet to be set.
“He was a good kid; he wasn’t really out there on the streets,” Gentry said.
Stanley was the oldest of three children, Gentry said.
Stanley’s killing was the city’s first for 2011.
Leguire said police are reviewing some surveillance cameras in the area, looking for anything useful.
Investigators are also busy working on other avenues, Leguire said.
“All hands are on deck and we’re going to try to get this resolved as soon as we can,” Leguire said.
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