4 stabbed, gun fire, at "stop-the-violence" party

Wild party not Trinity's doing
CEO: Event where four stabbed had "nothing to do with any of us"
By JORDAN CARLEO-EVANGELIST Staff writer
Updated 10:52 p.m., Tuesday, August 30, 2011

ALBANY -- A "rogue" now-former security guard at the Trinity Alliance was behind a large party that erupted into a brawl and ended early Saturday with four young men stabbed, a Trinity official said.

Trinity CEO Harris Oberlander said the so-called stop-the-violence party -- which was advertised on fliers and on Facebook using the organization's former name, the Trinity Institution -- was "totally, totally a fraudulent operation that had nothing to do with any of us."

Oberlander said the party organizer, whom he declined to name but said had worked at Trinity for more than a year, has been fired and that the not-for-profit plans to press charges against him.

According to the organization's security system, the employee let himself and perhaps as many as 300 people inside Trinity's 15 Trinity Place headquarters at 10:57 p.m. Friday, Oberlander said.

At some point afterward, the employee became alarmed at the size of the crowd and told Oberlander he decided to "shut it down" and called police, Oberlander said.

Just after midnight, police were summoned to reports of a large fight in the street outside Trinity and four young men -- ages 14, 18, 19 and 20 -- with wounds from a bladed weapon, none of them serious, police said.

Within the next hour, officers heard gunfire ring out twice on nearby streets, though nobody was reported hurt.

In an email to neighbors, Oberlander sought to reassure them that what happened was not sanctioned by anyone at the organization, noting the advertisements for the party included a cover charge. Trinity, he said, never charges for such things.

"I hope that we can have him prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," Oberlander said in an interview.

Police could not immediately say whether the man would face charges.

Even though Trinity had no connection to the party that precipitated the brawl, Oberlander said the SNUG anti-violence program, which is run by Trinity, will mobilize to deal with its aftermath.