At approximately 12:45 p.m. Sat. March 1, police responded to a shooting at Sangertown Square Mall where they located one male victim with multiple gunshot wounds. The police evacuated the mall as they searched for a suspect, however deemed the incident to not be an active shooter situation. Two to three students had previously been dropped off at the nearby Homegoods by the New Hartford Jitney, who were subsequently picked up by Campus Safety. For the remainder of the day, the New Hartford loop was no longer serviced by the Jitney and all students dropped off on the loop were picked up.
New Hartford police’s investigation into the incident determined that the shooting involved a single targeted victim with a single suspect. According to the Utica Observer Dispatch, Malachi Wynder was arrested for the shooting and charged with attempted murder, first-degree reckless endangerment and second-class criminal possession of a loaded firearm.
The campus response began when Interim Jitney Coordinator Hannah Dillon contacted Jitney Co-Manager Katlynn Leon ’25, informing her of the shooting incident. At the same time, the Jitney driver had just left from the Sangertown stop on the New Hartford loop. Leon informed the driver to continue the route as normal but to not stop at Sangertown later on in the day. The entire New Hartford loop was ultimately closed off for the remainder of the day due to the shooting incident and traffic.
Students were first notified of the incident at 1:29 p.m. through a Jitney email with the subject line “CANCELLING TARGET STOP TODAY (3/1).” The email did not give any specifics on the reason for the stop cancellation, merely informing the campus that there would be future updates, and was signed off with “jit happens :(.”
Commenting on the wording of the email, Leon said, “It was not our intent to offend anyone by using that phrase. It’s just the way we usually sign out our emails with any inconveniences, and we apologize for any offense that we may have caused as a result of using that phrase for such a serious matter.”
Sent out at 1:33 p.m., the following email with the subject line “DID YOU TAKE THE JITNEY TO HOME GOODS?” said, “Please respond: We need the 2 or 3 students who got off the New Hartford Jitney at Home Goods on the 12:00pm loop this afternoon to contact Campus Safety ASAP at 315-859-4000.”
The first campus wide communication from Campus Safety was sent out at 1:46 p.m.. The email, labeled as an emergency alert, informed students of reports of shots fired at Sangertown Square mall and to avoid the area for the afternoon. Continuing, the email in bold text requested that any students at Target or Sangertown call Campus Safety.
Students at Sangertown were picked up by Campus Safety rather than the Jitney following these emails.
Communication from the Jitney continued through 2:31 p.m. as the New Hartford loop was cancelled and a final Jitney was sent out to pick up the remaining students.
Jitney services have since returned to regular programming starting on Sunday after the resolution of the shooting incident.
