A prosecutor said the evidence didn’t back up murder charges against a parolee who had been accused of opening fire outside a downtown restaurant, killing four people and wounding four others, and had the counts dismissed on Sunday.
Keith Johnson, 25, of Buffalo was still being held in jail on a parole violation. He could be rearrested if authorities change their minds, but Erie County District Attorney Frank Sedita cited photo evidence and witness statements in seeking dismissal.
“I’m not going to prosecute someone for a quadruple homicide unless I’m sure he did it,” Sedita told City Court judge Patrick Carney, with Johnson sitting handcuffed next to him. “And I’m not sure he did it.”
Investigators removed several security cameras from the area around the restaurant on Saturday and viewed the images into the evening. Sedita said investigators have clear video of the shooting.
“We can see the race, gender, height, build, the clothing of the perpetrator. You can see many of the perpetrator’s actions. We have him shooting on video,” Sedita said outside the courtroom.
The City Grill’s managers, reacting to an altercation, had decided to close the restaurant early on Saturday morning and told patrons to leave. The victims were exiting at about 2:30am when a man began shooting, police said. Four people — including a Texas man who was celebrating his first wedding anniversary in his hometown — were killed and four others wounded.
Later, Johnson was arrested by police and charged with four counts of second-degree murder.
Even after the charges were dropped on Sunday, police commissioner Daniel Derenda stood by Johnson’s arrest.
People who had been at the party identified Johnson by name, one witness picked him out of a photo lineup, Johnson gave inconsistent statements and a search of his home yielded clothing with blood on it, Derenda said.
The blood hasn’t yet been tested, police said.
“We acted on what we had. If we had the same information today and were given the same scenario we would have had the same result,” Derenda said. “We acted quickly to rectify a situation where we were wrong and we turned it around as quickly as possible.”
Johnson, who was released on parole late last month after serving two years for assault, was assigned an attorney after the charges were dismissed. Investigators said he could be a witness in the case.
Sedita said he believed Johnson was being held in jail because being at a bar violated the conditions of his release. A parole official could not be reached by telephone on Sunday to confirm that.
Johnson’s mother told the Buffalo News that her son was at the restaurant at the invitation of his friend, Danyell Mackin, who was among those who died.
“My son could have been killed. He was ducking and dodging bullets like everybody else out there,” Jackie Green said.
Police were pursuing several new leads on Sunday, Derenda said, and authorities again asked that witnesses come forward.
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