ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The father of one of the victims of this past weekend's mass shooting in Rochester is calling on the community to speak up.
The victims of Sunday's mass shooting in Maplewood Park leave holes in the lives of those who knew and loved them.
The grieving father of one of the victims is coming back to his hometown to do the unthinkable — make arrangements to bury his daughter.
But Alex Reese Council also comes with a bold message to the community.
“At the end of the day, if you want the crime to stop in Rochester, then you got to speak up,” said Council.
He lost his daughter in a hail of gunfire, with at least 100 people at a park, and says those who survived have an obligation to talk.
“If you want the crime to continue, then you be silent. It is just no two ways around. That's just it,” he said.
Council’s daughter, Phylicia Council, 33, was one of seven people shot in the mass shooting on Sunday at Maplewood Park. She did not survive. Tyasia Manning, 25, also died. Five others were shot and are recovering.
Council says Phylicia was shot three times.
"I don't know how to process this," he said. "I don't know how to live with a daughter who got murdered. I don't know how to live with that type of situation. I don't know how to even go forward on that. You know, and I don’t wish this on nobody.”
Council says Phylicia loved her job, working with children with autism.
“Ever since a little girl, she's always been very outgoing," Council said. "And she was just, like, very humble, very humble. [She was] always giving and she had the same spirit I have. [She was] always trying to put people before her, always protecting people, you know, never got in any trouble."
He’s watched the videos on social media showing the assault.
“I see everybody running, running, running. And I see people running and I was looking to see if I could see my daughter running, you know, and I didn’t… I just want to see how does she get caught up in that type of line of fire that many times hit because I know my daughter. My daughter will get out of the way real quick. And these guys had be really close to her to hit her like that and how she gets three shots. So, I got a lot of questions, you know,” he said.
Council has strong words urging the community to cooperate with the police.
“I want to let the young people know that they have the word snitch messed up," he said. "Because a snitch is someone who gets in trouble. You both do something wrong. And you tell on the other person. That's a snitch. A snitch is not a person who sees a crime that he had nothing to do with and go and report who did what they did… It is your civil duty to bring help bring these people to justice… This can happen to your child. And if you don't want this to happen to your child and you want your child to go to the parks freely, want your child go to the grocery store freely, go to school freely, then you got to step up and say something.”
Council is raising money to help find the killer or killers.
“If anybody wants to help with that program, just go to FOREVER PHE. The reason why it’s for Forever Phe is because my daughter’s nickname was Phe-Phe and she's going to be Phe forever. She’s going to live in our hearts forever.”
Council was traveling back to Rochester from his home in Florida. He has reached out the Rochester Police Department and the Mayor’s Office and hopes to speak with investigators and Mayor Malik Evans directly about the case. He is also working on arrangements with a funeral tentatively scheduled for next Saturday.
Rochester police are still searching for a person they say was seen at the site at Maplewood Park with a gun at the time of the shooting.