Dozens watch as woman is stabbed to death
By: WROC-TV
Updated: October 2, 2007
Witnesses say a fight between two groups of women may have led to the brutal beating and stabbing of 36-year old Latasha Shaw. Shaw was found lying in the street bleeding and unconscious Saturday night near the intersection of Dewey Avenue and Driving Park Avenue in Rochester. 
Dozens of people are believed to have witnessed the attack. Three witnesses talked to News 8 Now, but asked to not be identified for fear of reprisals. One woman said she saw the women arguing just before the fatal beating. “That's when a whole group of people from down there and a whole group of all them girls that was on the porch they came up and they had knives, they had hammers, they had all that,” she told News 8 Now.
Another resident described the attack. “What I saw was a fight ensue. The one girl fell, one woman was stabbing her with a broom, someone else was kicking her, and one third person that I saw, who I'm assuming was the one who did the stabbing, I saw like three thrusts- distinctive thrusts,” the witness said.
R.P.D. West Side Commander Mike Woods called the killing senseless. “It's unfortunate to say nothing surprises me but it’s just completely uncalled for. I mean street violence right in the middle of Dewey and Driving Park. I mean, how do you explain that?”
Shaw worked at the University of Rochester as a food service employee for 15 years. In a released statement, the UR/SMH Chapter, SEIU 200United and 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Worker East Union mourned her death:
"Tasha was a constant advocate for worker rights and fought to improve the lives of her coworkers.We shall miss her.- UR/SMH Chapter, SEIU 200United and 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Worker East.
Shaw’s killing marks the city’s 39th homicide this year. If you have any information you’re asked to call police.
