Gunfire follows Port Jervis crime-prevention meeting, no injuries reported

Residents who had just spent the evening discussing public safety in Port Jervis were confronted by a far different scene a few blocks away, where gunfire was reported near Church and Franklin streets about 9:15 p.m. after a crime-prevention outreach session ended in the Fourth Ward.

Police Chief William Worden, Mayor Dominic Cicalese and Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler had met with residents at Engine 4 Fire Station, 31 Owen St., where the city had scheduled a community policing outreach event for 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 7. Common Council members Jaqueline Dennison, Stanley Siegel and Jason Vicchiarriello also took part. No injuries were reported in the shooting, and police said the investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information was asked to call the detective division at 845-856-5101.

The timing sharpened the contrast between the message officials were trying to deliver and the reality that followed. At the meeting, residents pressed leaders on substandard housing conditions, absentee landlords, growing use of e-bikes, noise and nuisance disturbances, speeding, failure to stop at stop signs and drivers ignoring crosswalks. Worden said crime statistics were lower through the end of 2025, but he also said the department saw a spike in the most serious crimes in April and that some shifts were handling 22 to 23 incidents.

Worden and Hoovler also pointed to broader changes inside the Port Jervis Police Department. Worden said the city had grants that were helping support increased patrols, that the department was fully staffed for the first time in more than a decade and that drones, cameras and phone-analysis tools were helping investigators move faster. He also said a domestic violence advocate now works out of the department and that the K-9 is expected to return in the fall. Hoovler said crime remained low compared with recent decades and credited officers with stopping guns and drugs from entering the city.

The shooting came against a recent backdrop of serious violence in the city. On Nov. 14, 2025, John Selja Jr. pleaded guilty in Orange County Court in connection with a May 6, 2025 Port Jervis shooting, and prosecutors recommended a 15-year prison term. More recently, on Feb. 15, 2026, Port Jervis police investigated a fatal Hammond Street shooting that killed a 43-year-old man and identified David Rombousek as a suspect, with help from New York State Police, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office Special Operations Group and the Hudson Valley Crime Analysis Center.

The Port Jervis Police Department has also emphasized visibility and outreach, including a 17th annual National Night Out planned for Riverside Park and its state accreditation, received Sept. 10, 2025 and publicly announced Sept. 22. In a historic city at the junction of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the message from officials was one of progress, but the gunfire after the meeting made clear how fragile that progress still feels on the street.