Charges Dropped Against Man Arrested in Buffalo Wedding Anniversary Party Massacre
Four people were killed and four wounded in the early morning shooting.
Aug. 15, 2010— -- Buffalo, N.Y., police are poring through tips and reviewing surveillance video today to find the shooter who killed four people and wounded four others at a wedding anniversary party, after charges were dropped against a man arrested in the massacre.
Erie County District Attorney Frank Sedita asked that charges be dismissed today against Keith Johnson, 25, who was arrested Saturday night and charged with four counts of murder.
Police said new evidence received after Johnson's arrest was announced led investigators to question whether they really had the right man.
"Detectives, following the press conference yesterday to announce the arrest, started getting some tips that maybe he wasn't the shooter," Buffalo police spokesman Michael DeGeorge said.
"Police started reviewing the evidence and last night, police working along with Erie County district attorneys realized there were some serious doubts that this was the shooter," he said.
The charges were dropped when Johnson appeared in court this morning for his arraignment, but he was still detained on a parole violation.
The district attorney said in court that photographic evidence and witness statements made it uncertain that Johnson was the gunman.
"I'm not going to prosecute someone for a quadruple homicide unless I'm sure he did it," Sedita said, with Johnson sitting handcuffed next to him, "and I'm not sure he did it."
He said police have clear video of the shooting, culled from security cameras from the around the restaurant.
"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 after the arraignment.
