Officers Injured, Suspect Shot on State Street

It was just after 1:30 Tuesday afternoon when 4 Rochester police officers responded with a Court Marshall to evict a man from his apartment on State Street for not paying his rent.

They were on the third floor when it became obvious that the eviction wouldn't go as planned.

Sgt. Justin Collins of the Rochester Police Department said "Upon arrival they made contact with the tenant. While conducting the investigation, the officers did fire multiple shots at the suspect."

Police say the tenant threw bleach on more than one of the officers.

Shots were fired and the tenant was hit.

Further details have not been released.

"That's always our problem, reacting to the unknown," said Mike Mazzeo of the Rochester Police Locust Club. "Our guys are good, they are well trained, they are experienced, they know what they are doing and they handled the situation the right way."

The owner of The Pizza Stop next door was wrapping up a busy lunch hour when the officers came rushing out of the building.

Jim Staffieri said "He came out and had all kinds of stuff on his uniform. I thought he was hit with mace; he was rubbing his eyes. It looked like something happened, and then we found out it was probably bleach."

Workers gave the officer water to help wash out his eyes.

The building is owned by the Volunteers of America.

For the last 15 years, it's served as transitional housing for people who used to be homeless.

Most recently the building underwent a $3 million renovation.

It was the VOA's first eviction, according to the agency's COO, Doug Stark. "We followed all of the legal procedures that were necessary, gave him proper notice and today was the last day he had opportunity to stay in the apartment."

The VOA is now working with tenants and building staff to make sure they feel safe.

Rochester Police will likely provide more details on the case on Wednesday morning.