Eight people leaving a party at a downtown Buffalo restaurant were shot early on Saturday, four of them fatally, including a man returning to his hometown to celebrate his first wedding anniversary, police said.
Managers had decided to close the City Grill in the city’s business district after an altercation inside. The victims were leaving at about 2:30am when a man who had been inside began shooting, police said.
“There were verbal things going on. Management apparently chose to close down and have everybody leave the restaurant,” Chief of Detectives Dennis Richards said. “People were leaving when this shooting happened.”
Keith Johnson, 25, of Buffalo was charged on Saturday afternoon with four counts of second-degree murder, but a prosecutor later told the Buffalo News that he intended to go to court yesterday morning to seek dismissal of the charges.
Erie County District Attorney Frank Sedita III told the newspaper he was making the move after reviewing video and photos from the scene and interviewing additional witnesses, noting that the evidence showed “certain discrepancies of people and clothing.”
“We are having serious second thoughts,” Sedita told the newspaper. “I have serious reservations about whether we have the right guy here.”
Sedita declined comment when contacted at his home by reporters early yesterday, other than to say he planned to be in court.
Police spokesman Michael DeGeorge did not immediately return cellphone and e-mail messages seeking comment early yesterday about the newspaper’s report.
Johnson was in custody late Saturday afternoon and unavailable for comment. Police didn’t know whether he was involved in the earlier altercation and asked witnesses to speak up.
The group was attending a party in advance of a more formal anniversary celebration scheduled for later on Saturday, authorities said.
The couple, Danyell Mackin, 30, and his wife, Tanisha, married in Texas a year ago and had returned to celebrate with Buffalo-area friends and family, authorities said. Tanisha Mackin was not hurt.
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