Zahnia Barr was only 14 years old when a stray bullet took her life late Friday night. She was standing outside in her hometown of Rochester, enjoying a late summer evening on North Clinton Avenue, when violence suddenly tore through the neighborhood.
Zahnia lived right here in the city and had her whole youth in front of her. She was near 1155 North Clinton Avenue, right by Clifford Avenue, when a large crowd started gathering on the pavement.
Around 10:30 p.m., Rochester police officers showed up to handle the growing crowd blocking the roadway. Patrol cars pulled up along the block, and officers spent nearly two hours asking people to leave.
About a dozen officers and several supervisors worked the area, playing pre-recorded announcements over loudspeakers. The warnings went out in both English and Spanish, urging everyone to clear out and head home before trouble started.
Despite the police warnings, crowds were still packed tightly near North Clinton Avenue and Morrill Street around 12:25 a.m. That was when sudden gunshots shattered the night, hitting Zahnia in the upper body while she was just standing nearby.
Panic instantly flooded the block as people scrambled to escape the gunfire. The sheer size of the mob made it hard for police, AMR paramedics, and Rochester firefighters to push through and reach the teen. Emergency crews finally got to her, but she died right there at the scene.
Police confirmed that Zahnia was not the intended target of the shooting. Right now, her family and friends are left grieving a young girl taken in a split second, while investigators continue searching for the shooter with no suspects in custody.
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