Tensions were high Sunday as people gathered for a vigil near Clifford Avenue, near where a 24-year-old man was shot and killed. Large crowds gathered near the scene.

On Monday, Mayor Lovely Warren said that it was safer in the long run for police and the city to allow the gathering.

It was a decision Police Chief La'Ron Singletary echoed Tuesday.

"Force could've been used to remove the crowd. Officers would've certainly liked to use force and increase the likelihood of an officer contracting COVID, if someone was a carrier of COVID in that crowd," said Singletary.

Mike Mazzeo, president of the Rochester Police Locust Club, says the chief and the mayor made the wrong call and it put officers in danger.

"We put a lot of citizens in jeopardy, in harm’s way, as well at least 25 police officers that we really can't spare right now," said Mazzeo.

Mazzeo says if Rochester police would've responded to the vigil quickly, they could've dispersed people before large crowds had the chance to gather. 

"We deal with delicate situations every day and we would've done it very tactfully. We would've explained that everybody is in very difficult situation and they would've understood that and moved on," said Mazzeo. 

"There is no playbook, like I said earlier, that comes along with law enforcement enforcing social distancing, it's very new waters and uncharted territory, which we're navigating," said Singletary.

Spectrum News reached out to the mayor's office. A representative referred us back to the mayor's remarks made on Monday.