Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Jess Kszos went to Baden Park on Sunday to take photos of her loved ones playing in a basketball tournament.
As she was doing that, gunfire began ringing out in the distance.
"I hear this loud popping, and all of a sudden people are dropping to the ground, like flat on the ground," Kszos said. "People are trying to run away and, at the time, I was just ducking."
"In that moment, I was thinking, 'Am I going to die right now?'" she added. "'What is happening? Is someone else going to die?'"
Norman Simmons was one of the basketball players on the court at the time.
"I was just thinking about everybody's safety in that moment, even mine," he said.
Back in 2013, Simmons was one of four people shot while on St. Paul Street in Rochester. He said these situations have become normalized to him.
"It was a straight bullet from somebody doing something the same type of way," Simmons said. "I got shot in my back."
Simmons said he wants to see a larger conversation happen to prevent these situations from wreaking havoc on community events.
"We've been doing this (tournament) for two years, and there hasn't been (any) incident in the space," he said.
Simmons said the shots fired had nothing to do with the basketball tournament.
"That's 1% of the people that was in that area that came there to do something like that, versus all the people out there for what it was for," Simmons said. "So it's just disappointing again that we have that disconnect in our community."
He said the men participating in the tournaments are doing it for the good.
"These men are trying to bring something positive based on the intergenerational relationships we had as kids," he said. "So we have men that are trying to give back."
READ MORE: 13wham.com/news/local/video-shows-people-at-rochester-basketball-tournament-seeking-cover-as-gunfire-rings-out-baden-park-shooting
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Jess Kszos went to Baden Park on Sunday to take photos of her loved ones playing in a basketball tournament.
As she was doing that, gunfire began ringing out in the distance.
"I hear this loud popping, and all of a sudden people are dropping to the ground, like flat on the ground," Kszos said. "People are trying to run away and, at the time, I was just ducking."
"In that moment, I was thinking, 'Am I going to die right now?'" she added. "'What is happening? Is someone else going to die?'"
Norman Simmons was one of the basketball players on the court at the time.
"I was just thinking about everybody's safety in that moment, even mine," he said.
Back in 2013, Simmons was one of four people shot while on St. Paul Street in Rochester. He said these situations have become normalized to him.
"It was a straight bullet from somebody doing something the same type of way," Simmons said. "I got shot in my back."
Simmons said he wants to see a larger conversation happen to prevent these situations from wreaking havoc on community events.
"We've been doing this (tournament) for two years, and there hasn't been (any) incident in the space," he said.
Simmons said the shots fired had nothing to do with the basketball tournament.
"That's 1% of the people that was in that area that came there to do something like that, versus all the people out there for what it was for," Simmons said. "So it's just disappointing again that we have that disconnect in our community."
He said the men participating in the tournaments are doing it for the good.
"These men are trying to bring something positive based on the intergenerational relationships we had as kids," he said. "So we have men that are trying to give back."
READ MORE: 13wham.com/news/local/video-shows-people-at-rochester-basketball-tournament-seeking-cover-as-gunfire-rings-out-baden-park-shooting
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13 WHAM on Facebook: facebook.com/13WHAM
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13WHAM on Instagram: instagram.com/13whamtv/?hl=en
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13 WHAM Daily Local News Digest: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuTJB6tta5ar3Fu5CumAvlvVunEP6bc9A
For more information, visit 13wham.com
Have a news tip? Send it directly to us:
Email us: news@13wham.com
Call the Newsroom: (585) 334-8700
WHAM is a NY based station and a ABC Television affiliate owned and operated by Deerfield Media, Inc and receives certain services from an affiliation of Sinclair Broadcast Group. Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. is one of the largest and most diversified television broadcasting companies in the country today.
#13WHAM #News #Rochester #NewYork
