TWO TEENAGE HOMICIDES TIED TO CITY DRUG WARS

Both Victims Shot In Head; 'It Was Clearly An Execution,' Says Rochester Police Chief

(Mar. 10, 2000) -- Two teens who were shot to death in an apartment
building stairwell yesterday appear to be the latest casualties in the
city's drug war, Rochester Police Chief Robert Duffy said.

"It was clearly an execution and there's little doubt it was drug-related,"
Duffy said. "This was not a random act."

The Monroe County Medical Examiner's Office identified the dead pair as
Melvin Chatman, 16, of 317 West Ave. and Raymond Hernandez, 18, of 90
Walnut St. An autopsy showed that each died of a single gunshot wound to
the head.

Chatman's and Hernandez's bodies were found inside a doorway at 111 Whitney
St. about 5:15 a.m. The apartment building in Rochester's northwest
quadrant is at the corner of Orange Street, two blocks from School 17.

"They did not deserve to die," Duffy said at a news conference. "They're
nothing but kids. Our hearts go out to their families."

The building was known for drug dealing, Duffy said, and police had been
directed there in recent months through a call to a Drug Hotline. He was
unsure of the date.

"From the information we gathered, drugs were being sold from the doorway,"
Duffy said. "The person who went there today (and discovered the bodies)
had one goal in mind: to buy drugs."

Some of the eight to 10 apartments in the building are occupied, but the
residents have been transient, Duffy said. Police had no suspects and few
leads, and Duffy pleaded for assistance from the community to solve the
killings.

Drug-related killings typically are more difficult to solve because people
with information are reluctant to speak with police, either out of fear of
retaliation or fear of being arrested themselves, Duffy said. He said 34
killings since 1998 have been classified as drug-related, and that police
have made arrests in just eight of them.

Another difficulty, he said, is that dealers nowadays stay at one spot for
only a few days, then move on.

"We're really asking for help from anyone and everyone in the community,"
Duffy said. "We're looking for anything at all."

Duffy said he has directed his investigators to analyze other killings over
the past few years that appear to be drug-related executions to see whether
any may be related. He said he met with top command staff yesterday to
discuss drug-related violence and said he also will talk with clergy
members and others in the community.

Duffy also urged parents who know their kids are involved with drugs to
contact police. While their children might face jail time, Duffy said, the
alternative could be far worse.

"We don't know of any drug dealers who receive pensions," Duffy said.
"Their life expectancy has been drastically lowered. They're going to wind
up in prison or dead. And there's probably not a family in Rochester who
would rather visit a son or daughter in the Monroe County Jail than at a
cemetery."

The deaths mark Rochester's 10th and 11th homicides of the year, five more
than the city had at this time last year.