On the evening of December 5, 2020, 29-year-old Leon J. Graves was fatally shot on Maplewood Avenue in the Mont Pleasant neighborhood of Schenectady. Police responded to a report of shots fired at about 8:36 p.m.; Graves was found at the scene and pronounced dead.

Born in Schenectady on January 10, 1991, Graves was a father of five, a Schenectady High School graduate and worked as a package handler for UPS in Latham, New York. Family and friends remember him for riding dirt bikes and working on cars with his father.

Investigators from the Schenectady Police Department opened a homicide investigation and the New York State Police Major Crimes Unit assisted after several city detectives were sidelined by coronavirus. The investigation was described as active, but there have been no public announcements of arrests or suspect identifications.

If anyone in the Mont Pleasant area that night saw or heard anything related to the shooting, please contact the Schenectady Police Department with what they know.