Shooting has Gloversville on edge

PHOTOGRAPHER: Edward Munger Jr.

Police in Gloversville are investigating the city’s second shooting in less than two weeks, the third recent act of violence that has put people in the city on edge.

A man was shot in the face near the parking lot of Naif’s Grocery at 251 N. Main St. at roughly 1:44 p.m., Gloversville police said.

The victim, whose identity was not being released Monday, was taken to Nathan Littauer Hospital with injuries police did not believe were life-threatening.

Police said it was too early in the investigation to determine any motive, or whether the shooting was random or targeted the victim specifically.

Meanwhile, residents around the scene Monday described as “crazy” the string of violent incidents in Gloversville, an economically depressed but generally quiet and safe small city in the foothills of the Adirondacks.

Police are still investigating the Aug. 12 shooting of 23-year-old Codie Hayward, who was hit with three bullets in the early morning hours.

Nine days earlier, Gloversville resident LaTerence Wilson, 27, was stabbed in the chest and groin on Hamilton Street. A suspect in that stabbing is being held at the Riker’s Island jail in New York City facing charges in another case, police have said.

Monday’s shooting took place in a parking lot near a busy store on a relatively busy street — children could be seen walking down the roadway as police investigators walked the scene surrounded by yellow crime scene tape.

“It’s getting ridiculous,” said Katrina Rivenberg, 36, a lifelong Gloversville resident unaccustomed to seeing such violence in her hometown.

“Now, it seems like every week there’s something, a stabbing, a shooting,” she said.

“We can’t even let our kids play in the yard,” Amber Nogueras, 25, said as she walked by the scene just 15 minutes after police arrived.

Nogueras said she believes there are people in Gloversville who are “trying to turn it into the city,” referring to New York City.

Robin Lopez, 23, of Johnstown, said she was concerned for the life of her sister, who works in a nearby restaurant, so she started calling as soon as her friends told her about the shooting.

“What if she happened to be coming over here and she got caught in the middle?” said Lopez, who said she’s also afraid to let her 3-year-old son outside.

“I think it’s getting kind of crazy,” Lopez said.

City resident Kyle Miklic, 20, said he’d be concerned for the welfare of his mother if it weren’t for the fact that she’s moving out of Gloversville next week.

“It’s getting horrible,” Miklic said.

Gloversville police are asking anybody in the vicinity at the time of the shooting to contact them; information people provide will be kept confidential. The police can be reached at 773-4514.