The City of Rochester announced this morning a ban on group gatherings at night, following a shooting in the East End and other disturbances.
Mayor Malik Evans said there will be a ban on public gatherings of 10 or more people between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. without a permit. Effective today, intentional violation of the emergency order is a Class B misdemeanor.
The announcement came Thursday morning at a press conference amid discussion of a drop in the number of people hit by gunfire in the first half of 2026; it is at the lowest point since 2011.
“Rochester is safe and getting safer,” Evans said. “Our gun violence metrics speak for themselves, and within the numbers we can see positive signs of behavior change that lead to self-sustaining declines.
Functional zero firearm violence is within reach.”
The city is not budging on its state of emergency that Evans has extended month after month.
“Although reaching a 15-year low in shootings is a tremendous improvement, we still have moments like we did in the early-morning hours of July 5, when eight people ended up in local emergency rooms — seven of them as victims of gunfire,” he said.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Rochester bans overnight gatherings of 10 or more people
