A pair of weekend shooting incidents near a Niagara Falls street corner long recognized as a hotspot for criminal activity prompted members of a local anti-gun violence group to take to the streets on Tuesday.
Members of the local chapter of SNUG, a state-supported initiative designed to tamp down on violence involving guns, gathered outside the Coastal gas station at the corner of 19th Street and Walnut Avenue to denounce the violence that occurred in the area on Sunday.
SNUG members said they wanted to send a message that violence, specifically violence involving guns, is not acceptable in the 19th Street neighborhood or in any other part of the city.
“A lot of times it is trivial things that tend to escalate and spill over into something that can possibly turn into a fatality,” said Antoine White, outreach coordinator for the Falls chapter of SNUG. “Thank God that within the past year, there haven’t been any fatalities. That’s why we are out here, feet to the pavement and letting it be known that we are here to make a difference, to let it be known that there is something different to do with your life.”
Both shooting incidents happened on Sunday in the lot at the Coastal gas station. White said the first happened Sunday morning and resulted in an individual receiving a gunshot wound to the leg. He said the second incident happened hours later, after 5 p.m. Sunday. In that incident, White said seven shots were fired and no injuries were reported; however, the windshield of a gas station employee’s vehicle was damaged by bullets.
Both incidents broke up what’s been a quiet year so far in terms of shooting incidents. White said, shootings are down 53% statewide in New York in 2025. He said Sunday’s incidents at Coastal broke a string of 229 days without a shooting in the Falls this year.
White and other SNUG members believe part of the decline involves work they are doing to be more proactive in efforts to prevent individuals from using guns to settle their differences.
“We try to canvas this heavily to let our presence be known, to let the community know what we do and why we do what we do and that we are here to help,” White said.
Homicides by firearm have for years been a leading cause of death for American males aged 15 to 24 and the numbers have been especially acute for African American males in the same age bracket.
SNUG, which is guns spelled backwards, is a street outreach program designed to curb gun violence in communities that are disproportionately impacted by it through a public health approach that embraces interacting with individuals to promote conflict mediation to avert shootings before they happen.
The initiative was one of several endorsed by Gov. Kathy Hochul in 2022 when she announced more funding for SNUG and the passage of stricter gun laws.
The Falls received $500,000 to expand SNUG services under a funding initiative announced by Hochul in April 2022 and the local SNUG chapter opened an office nearly a year later at 1702 Pine Ave.
The organization is now also operating in partnership with Community Missions of Niagara Frontier, Inc., with both organizations offering counseling, rapid re-housing, drug treatment and other services out of the missions’ office at 1570 Buffalo Ave.
SNUG’s services are available to people of all ages but are designed to focus on conflict resolution for individuals between the ages of 13 and 25. Each SNUG outreach worker assists six individuals, often young people who may be at risk of violence. Part of the program involves mentoring and providing Falls youngsters with opportunities to enjoy positive experiences outside the city, including Buffalo Bills games, the Erie County Fair and trips to local recreational outlets like Get Air in Tonawanda.
“It helps them see a different way of life,” said Bryant Brown Jr., a program manager with SNUG.
While encouraged that the city hasn’t had much gunplay and more importantly any fatalities from shootings so far this year, both White and Brown acknowledged that the trend may change now that warmer weather is setting in.
White said he’s hopeful, with SNUG’s continued work, that won’t be the case for the Falls in 2025.
“We’re going to pray,” he said. “We’re going to pray that (the violence) doesn’t continue.”
For more information about the Niagara Falls chapter of SNUG or services available to residents through the organization, call 716-285-3403, ext. 5422.