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UPDATE: Geneva Woman One of the Victims Killed In Rochester NYE Crash

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A Geneva woman attending a Moe. New Years Eve Concert in Rochester was one of the two people killed when a Syracuse man crashed into their ride-sharing car.

28-year-old Justina Hughes, of Geneva and 29-year old Joshua Orr, of Webster, were passengers of a rideshare vehicle that was struck by 35-year-old Michael Avery, from Syracuse.

Statement from the family of Justina Hughes

Justina was our family’s beautiful free spirit and she was loved by all of us beyond measure. She had an old soul and cared deeply for her family and friends. She was a talented artist who loved nature, and took every opportunity to hike a new trail and find a new waterfall. And oh how she loved music. It was the passion that gave her the most joy. We take peace in knowing that Justina and her very best friend, Josh, spent their last moments together, enjoying their passion and friendship. We also take comfort in knowing that many other lives were saved because they became, albeit unaware, a shield for others. And because of that, they will forever be heroes. We ask that you take a moment to reflect on the young lives that were taken away from their families and friends. Please respect our wishes to grieve and mourn this devastating loss in privacy.

Statement from the family of Josh Orr

Josh was a beautiful, generous human, filled with love and positivity and an advocate for those struggling with mental health. Aside from his family, he loved his girlfriend and his dog Eddie. On New Year’s Eve Josh was doing his favorite thing in the world, attending a Grateful Dead tribute band when he was taken from us. Josh is a hero and saved countless lives from being taken away from our community. We are thankful for all of the first responders of Fire, EMS and Law Enforcement for doing everything they could to help our son and his dear friend. Please respect our privacy as we navigate through this unimaginably difficult time.

The Albany-based band Moe. releases a statement.

 

GoFundMe for woman seriously injured at Moe. Concert.

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<blockquote
class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The moe.
community is just a group of good people who like good music,
it&#39;s awful to imagine leaving an event so joyful for something
so horrible. Here&#39;s a GoFundMe for one of the victims if you
want to support, I&#39;ll post more links as I find em. <a
href="https://t.co/3XCXqIoDno">https://t.co/3XCXqIoDno</a>
<a
href="https://t.co/uyeOCDvpGZ">https://t.co/uyeOCDvpGZ</a></p>&mdash;
James Del (@JDel) <a
href="https://twitter.com/JDel/status/1742226693807292875?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January
2, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"
charset="utf-8"></script>

 

 

 

The Syracuse man who police believe intentionally struck another vehicle as it was leaving a parking lot at the Kodak Center in Rochester early New Year’s Day has died. Rochester Police Chief David Smith provided this update on Tuesday morning:

Smith noted they are still gathering information and all of the information is preliminary.

They have identified the suspect as 35-year-old Michael Avery from the “Syracuse area.” Avery passed away at Strong Memorial Hospital Monday night. Smith said while Avery has not been “scientifically identified, they are in the process of confirming his identity. They have also been in contact with his family since Monday.

Avery traveled to Rochester in his car on December 27th and checked in at the Woodspring Suites in the town of Greece. Two days later, he rented the Ford Expedition that was involved in the crash from a car rental agency at the Rochester Airport.

On December 30th, Avery made at least a half-dozen purchases of gasoline and gasoline containers from different locations throughout Monroe and Ontario counties.

On January 1st, shortly before 1 a.m., Avery was operating the rented Expedition eastbound on West Ridge Road. At about this time, two Rochester Police Officers assigned to the concert were on traffic posts and stopping traffic to allow for pedestrians to cross. At this time Avery sped up, crossed into the oncoming lane and traffic, and appears to have intentionally been driving towards the pedestrian crossing. At about the same time, the rideshare vehicle containing two passengers in the back seat was pulling out of the theater parking lot and was struck by the Expedition. This created the chain of events that followed, leading to the death of the two rear-seat passengers of the rideshare vehicle and the injuries of at least nine pedestrians.

On Monday, a search warrant was executed on the hotel room rented by Michael Avery. There was no suicide note recovered during the search of the hotel room.

Michael Avery (photo: Rochester Police Department)

An additional search warrant was executed on Avery’s personal vehicle recovered in the airport parking garage. Investigators are still combing through evidence recovered from his vehicle, but nothing thus far has been recovered that provides any additional insight into why this occurred.

Although the motive behind the crime remains unknown, the conversations police have had with the family leads them to believe Avery may have been suffering from possible undiagnosed mental health issues.

At this time, Rochester Police and its partners, including the ATF and FBI, have not been able to identify that there was anyone else involved in the crime or that it was part of a larger plot.

Additionally, police have not uncovered any information leading them to believe the actions of Avery on New Year’s Eve were motivated by any political or social issues. Chief Smith noted this is an ongoing investigation and additional information may be developed.

Anyone with additional information about the incident or the suspect’s motivations is encouraged to call the RPD’s Major Crimes Unit at 585-428-7157 or email [email protected]

Two people were killed and five others injured when an SUV hit a car and a group of pedestrians in Rochester following a New Year’s Eve Concert at the Kodak Center.

Two people in a vehicle rented at the Syracuse Airport were killed.

Police say the other vehicle was operated by an Uber driver. That vehicle exploded and it took firefighters over a hour to put out the fire.

At least a dozen gasoline containers were in the vehicle.  The RPD Bomb Squad, Joint Arson Task Force and the FBI are investigating.

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