Man charged with murder, arson in Hancock St. fire

A felon accused of setting a house fire that caused the death of a Rochester woman last month has been charged with murder, according to Rochester police.

Christine Cannon, 78, lived in a third-floor apartment in a multi-family house at 27 Hancock Street and was unable to leave when a fire consumed the house, which was destroyed and later razed. Firefighters battling the blaze were unable to reach her on the third floor after the stairs had collapsed. Three others were injured in the fire - a firefighter was hurt while battling the fire and two other residents suffered smoke inhalation.

Leshawn Jason Scott, 39, of Rochester was charged with second-degree murder and second-degree arson, both felonies, and is accused of setting the fire that killed Cannon and displaced all the residents of 27 Hancock, said Capt. Frank Umbrino of the Rochester Police Department.

According to police, Scott was involved in a domestic dispute with a resident of a lower-level apartment at 27 Hancock. He did not live in the building. He is accused of assaulting the resident, a woman, and intentionally setting a fire in the kitchen of her apartment before he ran from the scene, around 4 a.m. on Jan. 27. The fire spread quickly through the house and trapped Cannon on the third floor.

Scott was apprehended on Monroe Avenue on Friday night and was arraigned in City Court Saturday morning. He is being held without bail at the Monroe County Jail and is scheduled to return to court on Wednesday afternoon. Additional charges are pending and will be considered by a Monroe County grand jury, Umbrino said.

Scott, a registered Level 3 sex offender following a guilty plea to first-degree criminal sex act in 2004, is also accused of failing to comply with sex offender registry requirements, specifically failing to provide an updated address and photograph for more than two years.

Rochester NY homicides in 2023

Rochester saw 76 homicides in 2022. Cannon's death marked Rochester's seventh homicide of 2023. The city is currently averaging a slaying every 5.9 days in 2023, a pace above last year's rate of a homicide every 4.8 days.