Albany

A 25-year-old man lay on South Pearl Street on Thursday morning, a blue bicycle tangled between his legs, as good Samaritans performed CPR on him after he had been shot.

A video taken by a bystander that was viewed by a Times Union reporter showed the man, who has yet to be identified by police, with a gun near his right hand and what appeared to be a gunshot wound in his forehead.

Witnesses said two workers from the nearby St. Peter's Family Health Center worked to resuscitate the man, who they said was known to his friends as "Blackie." He was in critical condition on Thursday evening at Albany Medical Center Hospital, according to family friends and police.

The shooting, which occurred at around 9:40 a.m. in front of a Rite Aid pharmacy at 310 South Pearl St., rattled many South End residents, as did an hours-long standoff with a parolee, Jarquell T. Williams, 28, who kept police at bay after he ran into a yellow house on Bassett Street and refused orders to come out as a SWAT team and U.S. Marshals surrounded the dwelling and took positions on the rooftops of nearby houses.

Father Peter Young, who runs a statewide program that helps former inmates find jobs, arrived not long after the shooting and said police had asked him to coax Williams from his hiding spot. Young has been counseling Williams and helping him search for a job. He said Williams, who has been to prison twice, including for assaulting a police officer, was on medication for a behavioral issue and had been struggling emotionally recently when Medicaid declined to continue funding his medication.

"He didn't have it and he became dramatically different and we were trying to help him ... get the right medications," Young said. "He's a very kind guy and very compassionate to our guys in the program."

Just before 1 p.m., police used a robot to gain access to the three-story house where Williams was hiding and then launched several tear gas canisters into the building. Williams was then taken into custody. Police have not identified him as a suspect in the shooting, said Officer Steven Smith, a city police spokesman.

No one else was in the building at the time, Smith said.

According to state records, Williams was released from prison in January after serving five years for felony assault for elbowing an Albany police officer in the face during a pursuit. He had previously served several months in state prison from 2006 to 2007 on low-level felony drug charges.

When Williams was taken into custody, he had an electronic monitoring bracelet affixed to his ankle that was used by state parole officers to keep tabs on his whereabouts. Williams was arrested on a parole violation on Thursday night and taken to Albany County jail while the shooting investigation continues.

Onlookers said the victim and shooter knew each other and had been feuding since they were children. Young, though, said Williams was agitated because his bicycle had been stolen twice in the past month.

Young did not see the shooting but said people who were in the area said it was unclear who shot the victim. "There was another car involved," he said. "The guy just jumped out of the car and ran after the guy on the bicycle who was shot."

The Rev. Avery Comithier of Elijah Misisonary Church on Second Avenue, knows the victim and said members of his congregation called him repeatedly with questions about the shooting.

"That's somebody's son and we're going to be there for the family," Comithier said. "We're going to be there for the community."

He said the incident could have been caused by many issues, including gang violence.

"It's just another example of not sitting down and talking to each other," Comithier said.

The pastor, who has been walking the streets with police officer and trying to get jobs for young men in the neighborhood, said he was taken aback by the violence.

"It lets me know I got to do more. I got to cover more ground," he said. "I'm a little disappointed and hurt at the same time."

The shooting caused the evacuation of nearby Giffen Elementary School, which has 500 students in pre-K through grade 6, and prompted police to lock down local buildings.

Students and staff members from Giffen, at 274 S. Pearl St., were evacuated by bus to Thomas O'Brien Academy of Science and Technology, off Delaware Avenue in Lincoln Park, Albany school district spokesman Ron Lesko said. The Giffen students were later dismissed from TOAST at their regular 3:35 p.m. time. All Giffen after-school activities and a family literacy night were canceled.

Two prosecutors and an investigator from the office of Albany County District Attorney David Soares were at the shooting scene on Thursday.

"It's crazy. This is really out of the ordinary, especially in broad daylight," said Willie White, director of A Village, a South End grass-roots activist group. "We haven't had any shootings down here in awhile."

Paul Grondahl and Tim O'Brien contributed.