An argument at a house party in the early morning hours of September 12, 2015, in Rochester, New York, escalated into a burst of gunfire that left 36-year-old John Rudolph dead. The male victim was attending a gathering inside a home in the Marketview Heights neighborhood when the violence erupted around 4:30 a.m. Another man, Herbert Thomas, aged 34, was also killed in the shooting, and three women were wounded.
The immediate aftermath of the shooting saw a swift police response,
leading to the identification of a suspect. Authorities named William James as the individual who opened fire during the party following a dispute with Rudolph. In the course of the incident, James himself sustained a gunshot wound to the leg. He was taken into custody shortly after the deadly encounter.
William James was subsequently charged in connection with the killings. He was arraigned in Rochester City Court on second-degree murder charges, where he initially pleaded not guilty. He appeared at his arraignment in a wheelchair due to the injury he sustained during the shooting. A year later, in September 2016, James pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of first-degree manslaughter for the death of John Rudolph. As a result of his guilty plea, he was sentenced to 18 years in New York State Prison in October 2016.
