A jury got to hear Latasha Shaw's 911 call for the first time yesterday.

So did the public

Shaw was allegedly killed by an angry mob on Dewey Avenue near Driving Park in 2007. Apparently she was there because her 13-year-old daughter was attacked by a "bunch of grown women" as Shaw put it in her call to the 911 dispatcher.

The call is surreal. The victim tells us where she is and what she thinks is about to happen to her.

"They are standing out there with sticks and knives and everything," Shaw says.

According to some reports, people watched the situation unfold from apartment windows and front porches.

Shaw's untimely death in conjunction with the murder of community activist Jimmy Slater was shocking, even to a community plagued with gun violence.

Listening to Shaw's call for help is a bit "Clockwork Orange," fait accompli for a culture that glorifies violence to such an extreme that city mayors across the country are virtually helpless to stem the flow of guns into their communities.

The Shaw and Slater killings kicked Rochester's anti-violence machinery into high gear. Their deaths prompted the police crackdown that has come to be known as "Zero Tolerance."

The African-American clergy also launched a public awareness campaign aimed at countering the "no snitching" culture.

The results are mixed.

Police Chief David Moore has said repeatedly that Rochester is a safe city, but perceptions have a way of shaping reality.

It's hard to shake the image of Shaw's brutal death.

The camera city, the lilac city, the killing city - who are we?