Moments of terror, a day of sadness

A Rochester Police cruiser on Monday rolls past the orange paint that marks where a Rochester man was fatally shot on Sunday night. (Harrison Thorp photo)

ROCHESTER - It was a frightening few moments for a young woman who lives on Sylvain Street.

She had just returned home around 10 p.m. on Sunday night and was in her car talking on her phone in front of her house.

“Suddenly this car pulls up behind her and these guys are screaming at one another,” said her mother who didn’t want to identify herself or her daughter. “So she calls us up and says, ‘I’m in my car outside the house, what should I do?’” her mom added. “But before we could tell her, the call got dropped.”

Within moments two pops were heard, and minutes later the usually tranquil street was crawling with cops, gun drawn.

What they found was 37-year-old Rochester resident Richard Dumont, who’d been shot, and the man suspected of pulling the trigger, who never attempted to flee.

In fact, the mother of the girl in the car said her son watched from his bedroom window as the shooter diverted traffic off the street as he waited for police to arrive.

“My son said he heard them shouting at each other,” she added. “He said there was one outside the car yelling at a man inside the car. The one outside was saying something like, ‘Where you been, man. I’ve been trying to call you for four hours.’”

She said her son watched them scream at each other like that for some time, then grew tired of watching and lay back down to try to sleep.

“As soon as his head hit the pillow, that’s when he heard the two shots,” she said, adding the one who had been outside the car was now lying on the pavement.

She said the man who is thought to have shot Dumont remained talking to police for at least an hour at the scene after the shooting.

Neighbors on Monday said the two men were friends. One said they suspected who the shooter was. But they wondered why no one had been arrested.

In the afternoon two neighborhood residents sat on a stone wall and commiserated over what had happened the night before.

“It’s just so sad, this is a quiet little street,” said one neighbor who didn’t want to be identified. “Almost everyone on this street works, everyone has kids. It’s usually very quiet. The (Maple Street) school’s right there.”

The street is lined with small, neat homes and yards. One home had beautiful red tulips and other flowers adorning its front door.

Another neighbor said the two men lived several streets over toward Lafayette Street, which they said is awash with drugs.

Meanwhile, the Attorney General’s Office which is investigating the case remains tight-lipped with no timetable for completion of the probe.

Dumont’s autopsy was to be performed today by the state coroner’s office.

Jeffery A. Strelzin, the Senior Assistant Attorney General, told The Lebanon Voice today that there are no other persons of interest pertinent to the case other than the two men.

“We’ve identified everyone involved,” he said.

No street address has been given for Dumont. Strelzin said his office does not normally release such information.