Albany

The shooting death of a 27-year-old father in West Hill on Saturday was a personal tragedy to the family of Mayor Kathy Sheehan, who has known the victim for much of his life as the biological brother of her adopted son.

"This one now has directly hit my home," the mayor said. "It's a call that I never thought I would ever get."

That call came late Saturday afternoon, not long after police responded to reports of gunfire on First Street. Christopher J. Hardy, the father of two young sons, was fatally shot at close range as he sat alone in his car. The killer slipped away and has not been arrested.

Hardy was described by family members and friends as a hardworking father — he drove a delivery truck at night — who doted on his sons and avoided the lure of gang life. A law enforcement source said detectives are examining whether Hardy, who had minor brushes with police, may have been pulled unwittingly into a conflict between rival gangs. Hardy was shot twice — in his abdomen and left hip — causing fatal internal injuries, police said.

Sheehan learned about his death when acting police Chief Robert Sears called her late Saturday afternoon after arriving at the murder scene. The chief didn't immediately have a lot of details for the mayor, who was texting with the chief when her cellphone rang. On the other end of the line was a heartbroken Susan Springsteen, Hardy's mother, who informed Sheehan of their loss.

The women met more than 17 years ago when Springsteen was pregnant with the boy that the mayor and her husband, Robert, would adopt as their only child. The adoption was open — both families knew one another — and took place about a decade before Sheehan left the private sector and was elected Albany's city treasurer.

"For me, this senseless violence has now directly impacted my family, and it can happen to anyone," Sheehan said Tuesday. "There are lives that are left behind that ... you can't undo this when someone decides to pull out a gun and shoot it. They have no idea the lives they are ripping apart and devastating in the wake of the violence."

Hardy and Sheehan's son, Jay, who is 17, were introduced at a Delaware Avenue ice cream shop last year. The mayor said Hardy brought his son, Ciyan, and she walked the little boy to a nearby fire station to look at the trucks as her son and Hardy met for the first time.

The mayor said she and her family have kept touch with Springsteen's family through the years but they kept the relationship private from Jay until last year, when he asked to meet his biological family.

"Christopher encouraged my son to work hard and focus on his education," Sheehan said.

Hardy's parents had ended their marriage "with a bang," Springsteen said. In the midst of the divorce, she realized she was pregnant with Jay — who she calls Jacob — and decided it was best to put the child up for adoption. He has four siblings.

"I was already struggling with what I had," said Springsteen, who was adopted herself. "I knew I couldn't give another baby a good life."

Springsteen said that despite the two families having ties to Albany, her family was only formally introduced to Jay Sheehan last year.

"He's always known he was adopted, always had pictures of us. He just didn't know our last name," she said.

Then Jay found her on Facebook.

"Curiosity killed the cat," Springsteen said. "It happened suddenly."

Within a week, Jay met his biological family. "Since then, we've had a wonderful relationship," Springsteen said.

She said Sheehan is helping organize and pay for Hardy's funeral arrangements.

Sheehan and Springsteen both described Hardy as a focused young man whose life largely revolved around his sons, Ciyan and 2-year-old Camren. He would often say: "Anything for my kids," according to his mother.

Hardy lived in Pine Hills and attended school in Albany and Delmar before dropping out of high school.

"He liked the exciting ... hanging with the fellas. He just got off track," his mother said. "He really was a good kid trying to look tough. ... He liked to hang with a rougher crowd but it wasn't necessarily who he was, especially since he had kids."

He worked the overnight shift for a local trucking company so he could spend days caring for his younger son. Hardy lived with Camren and the boy's mother, Chiera Jackson, in Albany. Ciyan lives on Long Island with his mother.

Still, "He didn't miss a day," Springsteen said. "He called Ciyan every day and he had him as often as he could, often for weeks at a time."

Ciyan still doesn't believe his father is dead. His family is struggling to explain it, Springsteen said.

"He's too young to grasp the concept." Springsteen said. "They try to tell him, 'Daddy's in heaven,' and 'We're not going to see Daddy again,' but he just laughs and says, 'Yes, I will.'"

Both boys will meet with a child psychiatrist this week so their mothers can decide if the boys should attend Hardy's wake and funeral Thursday, Springsteen said.

A wake for relatives and friends will be from 10 a.m. to noon Thursday at McVeigh Funeral Home. The funeral will immediately follow. Hardy will be buried in St. Agnes Cemetery in Menands.

Hardy was the second homicide victim in Albany this year. Alonzo Garaycochea, 25, the father of a 7-year-old boy and 2-year-old girl, was fatally shot Feb. 12 in his Clinton Avenue apartment. No arrest has been made.

Sheehan, who was elected mayor in 2013, said the kind of violence that unfolded Saturday is "the most difficult part of this job" because it continues even though shootings in Albany have fallen through the years amid stepped-up community policing and anti-gun campaigns.

"We've done so much ... look at what we have done to reduce gun violence in this city," Sheehan said. "When you look at overall statistics, we are in a much better place than many, many other cities. But of course these aren't statistics, these are real people and this is clearly one that drives that message home more than I would have liked. Nobody wants this."

blyons@timesunion.com • 518-454-5547 • @brendan_lyonstu