‘Hoping to get justice:’ Family of Maplewood shooting victim sets up GoFundMe towards reward

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — Wednesday marks one month since a shooting at Rochester’s Maplewood Park that killed two people and injured an additional five. The family of one of the victims is still searching for answers.

Phylicia Council was killed alongside Tyasia Manning last July at a large gathering at the park. Police said a large gathering turned into people running away after gunshots rang out. Five people were also injured in the shooting.

Alex Council told News 8 Tuesday it’s been nearly a month since the last time he talked to his daughter before she was killed that day. He says they were close, and he won’t rest until he knows who did this.

“If this was your daughter. How would you feel?,” Alex said. “Would you want somebody to sit back and just be silent? And knowing your daughter was innocent. She did nothing. She was just enjoying herself at the park.”

Alex says his daughter was a special type of person.

“She worked for autism kids. She made a difference in this world, and some cowards just took her life just because,” Alex said.

Police have released pictures of the suspects in the shooting, but no announcement has been made of any arrest. This led to Council’s father setting up a GoFundMe page asking for donations to put toward a reward for information.

“My daughter would tell me to keep, keep, keep going and find a person who did this to her,” Alex said. “I could see her now, saying, ‘Dad, find a person who did this.”

According to the page, Alex Council set it up with a goal of $10,000 towards a reward for whoever is able to find the suspects. As of Tuesday morning, $2,495 has been raised from 44 donations.

“The more money that’s donated, the more money is out there, the better chance I have of catching those killers,” Alex said.

Alex has been in contact with Manning’s family and said he wanted to offer this reward to bring justice for her family as well. And in hopes they won’t be able to hurt anyone else.

“This is not just for me,” Alex said. “This is for you too. And it’s also for those five people who got shot and thank God they survived because that could have been one of your children. We need to understand that: You see something. You have to say something.

Rochester police continue to ask anyone with information or videos of the event to call 911, the Major Crimes Section at (585) 428-7157, Crime Stoppers at (585) 423-9300, or by emailing MajorCrimes@cityofrochester.gov .

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