10/21/09 Armed robbery – as told to me by my neighbor.

10/21/09 Seven separate police raids Monday night at homes in University Heights netted $73,000 in cash from a drug dealer’s safe on Davidson Avenue, seven guns, cocaine and marijuana, ammunition and the arrests of six individuals, authorities said. Arrested on weapons and drug charges were Andre Banks, 41, of Poultney Avenue; Uriah Grant, 27, of Shirley Avenue; Tyree Lemon, 20, of Shirley; Darius Ofield, 22, of Stockbridge Avenue; Lavelle Reeves, 19, of Davidson; and Donte Walker, 18, of Poultney. The raids were conducted at two homes on the 100 block of Poultney and at homes on the 100 block of Bickford Avenue, the 100 and 200 blocks of Shirley, the 200 block of Davidson and the 500 block of Stockbridge. (Buffalo News)

10/20/09 Buffalo police were searching for three men in connection with a Monday afternoon home invasion on Tyler Street, according to police reports. A 24-year-old resident told police that at about 4 p. m., the three men removed pins from the hinges on a door and forced their way into his apartment while he was sleeping. The victim woke up to find the three burglars in his house, and they threw a blanket over him, sitting on top of him and threatening to shoot him.(Buffalo News)

10/18/09 Buffalo police were called Saturday night to restore order outside a Buffalo roller rink, where teenagers who got turned away turned it into a chaotic scene. At least three arrests were made and one person was injured. The incident near Arcadia Roller Skating Rink, 30 E. Amherst St. near Main Street, erupted about 8 p. m. after a skating party at the rink quickly filled to capacity. There were a lot of young people milling around outside waiting to get in and frustrations about being shut out may have boiled over, police said. There were reports of as many as hundreds of teenagers in and around the rink.Tempers flared and fights broke out, spilling onto the streets, and police from at least three districts were called to restore order and move traffic. There were at least three arrests, but charges are pending. (Buffalo News)

10/11/2009 University Police are investigating a robbery reported October 11 at approximately 10:45 p.m. on Rensch Road near the Audubon Parkway intersection. The victim was approached from behind and shoved to the ground. (UB News Center)

10/10/2009 One male was shot in the upper body at about 8:30 p. m. in the 200 block of Minnesota Avenue. A woman was hit in the leg and her injuries were not life-threatening. (Buffalo News)

10/5/2009 University Police received a report at 10:10 p.m. on Oct. 4 from a student who stated he was robbed at gun point on Lee road near Jarvis B Parking Lot. A second student also reported being robbed between Ketter Hall and Putnam Way shortly after the first incident was reported. According to the victims, the suspects were two black males, both wearing dark clothing, one wearing a black scarf on his head and armed with a silver handgun. (UB News Center)

9/25/09 Buffalo police from three districts as well as officers from the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority police converged on a large fight involving as many as 30 students on Main Street near Hertel and LaSalle avenues Thursday afternoon, police reported.
The incident began about 3:30 p. m. Police were called to the area for the report of a large fight after school. It was believed that some of the students involved were from nearby Bennett High School, but it was unclear how many, authorities said. (Buffalo News)

9/21/09 A Buffalo man who was shot on Allenhurst Road in Amherst early Saturday was listed in fair condition Sunday in Erie County Medical Center.
Shawn Wilson, 34, of Dodge Avenue, was found with several bullet wounds when Amherst police responded to a report of shots fired at about 1:20 a. m. in the 500 block of Allenhurst. A dark-colored SUV was seen leaving the area shortly after the report of gunshots. (Buffalo News)

9/10/09 The operator of a Bailey Avenue video rental business was arrested today by Buffalo police and federal agents who called him one of the region’s major cocaine suppliers. Sean Washington, 40, of Englewood Avenue, was arrested after more than six pounds of cocaine and four handguns were found in a “stash house” he allegedly operates on Eller Avenue. “[Washington] is a big cocaine supplier, a dangerous individual and we’re glad to get him off the streets,” said Charles Tomaszewski, resident agent in charge of the Buffalo DEA office. “He has a past record of felony drug convictions and we believe he has supplied a number of drug rings in the area for years. “SWAT teams from Buffalo and the Town of Tonawanda took part in the arrests of Washington and his son, Lamar Washington, 19, of Minnesota Avenue. They face felony charges of drug distribution, drug possession and gun possession. (Buffalo News)

9/5/09 A Highgate Avenue woman told police someone fired a shotgun blast through the front window of her house early Friday morning. No one was injured, but the 12:39 a. m. shooting left a spray of birdshot in the drywall and molding of the house on Highgate, between Suffolk and Orleans streets.(Buffalo News)

9/2/09 A woman walking around Hoyt Lake in Delaware Park about 6 p. m. Monday was punched in the head and kicked by an assailant who also robbed her of her wallet, which contained $500 and some credit cards, Northwest District police report. The attacker was described in police reports as a black man in his late 20s, about 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, wearing a black hooded sweat shirt. Buffalo News

9/2/09 E District Police are investigating a shooting on the city’s East Side early today in which a man fired more than two-dozen shots into a house on Wade Avenue. Buffalo News

8/31/09 A surveillance camera got two photos of a suspect in an armed robbery Sunday at a Mobil station on Bailey Avenue at Winspear Avenue. Police officials say the gunman entered the Mobil station at 3444 Bailey just before 5:30 p. m. and demanded money. He made off with an undisclosed amount of cash and cigarettes. Buffalo News

8/30/09 A Colvin Avenue woman was attacked this morning as she walked to her vehicle in a quiet North Buffalo neighborhood. The woman told police a man approached her at around 6:30 a.m. at Avery and Virgil avenues. “Do you have any money?” the man asked her, according to police records. When the woman said she had no money, the man struck her in the face several times.The victim described the suspect as a 5-foot-9 black male who weighs about 160 pounds and was wearing a brown hoodie and jeans. Buffalo News

8/12/09 Two armed men entered a Mighty Taco restaurant in North Buffalo early this morning and ordered everyone to the floor, while demanding cash from the manager and fleeing with an undisclosed amount of money, Buffalo police reported. The robbery occurred between 1 and 1:30 a.m. at the Mighty Taco on Delaware Avenue, near Hertel Avenue. (Buffalo News)

7/21/09 Residents of Buffalo’s Central Park area say they’re living in fear, as gangs take over their neighborhood. Neighbors say desperate calls for help have fallen on deaf ears.
Concerned neighbors on Manhattan Avenue are armed with video cameras capturing scenes several times a week.
Bolden reached out to News 4 to say she and her neighbors are tired of dozens of teens invading their street, “They’re trashing people’s houses, busting out people’s windows, jumping on people’s kids. It’s just a melee.” WGRZ

7/9/09 Two Buffalo men in their 20s were stabbed during a fight outside a restaurant near that intersection early today, less than four hours after an armed bandit waved a small handgun at a fast-food restaurant worker almost directly across the street.
The double stabbing occurred during a fight involving four to eight men at about 2:55 a.m., outside Louie’s Texas Red Hots, at 2350 Delaware, just north of Hertel. Both men who were stabbed, Ernest Bishop, 26, of Hopkins Street, and Robert Carlock, 24, of Roberts Street, have been treated and released from Erie County Medical Center. Bishop was stabbed in the back, while Carlock was stabbed in the stomach.
The armed robbery occurred at about 11:15 p.m. Wednesday, when a lone gunman stole an undisclosed amount of money from the Mighty Taco restaurant at 2363 Delaware Ave.
The thief, who wore a black scarf over his face, pulled out the handgun and demanded money from the clerk while waving the weapon around inside the restaurant. (Buffalo News)

7/6/09 A North Buffalo man who was calling police to report that four young people fired Roman candles at his home was beaten over the head with his phone and struck across the back with a metal bike chain early Sunday morning, police reported today. Northwest District police said the man was beaten repeatedly and dragged down the street. The assault occurred on Villa Avenue, which is one block south of Kenmore Avenue, between Delaware and Colvin avenues. Police early today announced the arrest of two boys, ages 12 and 14, who are being petitioned to Family Court on what would be charges of gang assault, reckless endangerment and criminal mischief, according to police reports. (Buffalo News)
6/23/09 An Englewood Avenue man accused of robbing someone sitting in a parked car at gunpoint early Sunday was arrested by Northeast District officers, Buffalo police reported. Steven A. Talley, 24, is charged with first-degree robbery, criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of stolen property, reckless endangerment and possession of marijuana.
6/1/09 A gang of youths armed with bricks and rocks went on a rampage Saturday night, shattering windows on houses and cars in a normally quiet Buffalo neighborhood.
At least three reports were filed with the Buffalo Police Department on Sunday about the incidents on Shirley Avenue between Bailey Avenue and Eggert Road. They included the smashing of a plate glass window at a plumbing store at 484 Shirley, a house at 407 Shirley, and damage to a number of cars on the street.
He said at 10:20 Saturday night, about 40 to 50 kids ran screaming down the street, leaving a path of destruction in their wake.
“One car across the street had its hood bashed,” he said. His own car was struck by a brick that was thrown at it with such force that it smashed his back window and wound up on the dashboard.
He said Saturday’s vandalism is just the latest in a series of incidents that have been happening in the neighborhood, a problem that is relatively new.
“I’ve lived here a very long time,” he said. Much of the commotion seems to be coming from one house in particular, one he calls the “fun house.”
“It was a quiet area here before they moved in,” he said. There are “so many” kids coming and going at all hours, something he says is generating much of the trouble. Buffalo News

6/1/09 A drive-by BB gun shooting on Main Street in University Heights led to the arrest of four Buffalo teens. Two women and a man told police Sunday a passenger in a gold vehicle shot at them with a BB gun while they were at Main and Custer streets. The suspects later were found by Cheektowaga and Buffalo police on Treehaven Road with a BB gun in plain sight, according to police. Arrested were Donald Silmon, 17, of Winspear Avenue; Jeffrey E. Campbell, 17, of Treehaven Road; and Davaughn D. Dantzler and Justin Ward, both 17 and both of Highgate Avenue. All four were charged with felony assault, reckless endangerment and criminal possession of a weapon. Buffalo News

5/31/09 5/31/09 Several cars were vandalized between Saturday night and tonight by a gang of 6-8 young black men around the ages of 13-16.

A friend of mine was walking in Shoshone park about 6pm when she was harassed by this group of kids, who also smashed her car windows and headlights while she was parked in the La Salle lot near the day care center. She could only identify two of the boys as the others were hiding in the brush. She said one wearing a very bright orange t-shirt and the other was wearing a black t-shirt and they were taunting her as if they were the gang leaders. They threw rocks at her and her dog while screaming and cursing at her. Neighbor Report

5/26/09 WIVB Police are searching for a man they say is armed and dangerous. He’s wanted in connection with the murder of a man in Amherst.
Richard Garnett is visibly distraught. You can understand why. Monday night, his twin brother, Jesse, was shot and killed in Amherst.Two weeks ago in Buffalo, their roommate, University at Buffalo graduate Javon Jackson, was gunned down. The three young men grew up in the Bronx together and shared an apartment in a Lisbon Avenue home. Garnett said, “My roommate, now my brother. Everything is taken away. My dream is gone.”
Richard says his brother was visiting his girlfriend and her two-year-old son at a Yale Avenue apartment when he was shot multiple times Monday night, possibly by her ex-boyfriend.
The mother and child weren’t hurt. Amherst Police spent much of the day going door to door, in search of the alleged gunman. They want to talk to 24-year-old Andre Ridgeway of Buffalo.
Amherst Assistant Police Chief Timothy Green said, “He’s considered a person of interest and at this time he’s considered armed and dangerous.” Investigators wouldn’t say whether Ridgeway was also considered a person of interest in the Mother’s Day shooting of Javon Jackson.
5/24/09 A Woodbridge Avenue resident told police he was robbed while walking through Delaware Park late Friday night. The victim told police he was walking through the park near Parkside and Oakwood Place at about 11:15 p. m. Friday, when he was accosted by three males. “Give us what you got, and you won’t get hurt,” one of the suspects told him. Buffalo News

5/24/09 An employee at the Sunoco at 1301 Hertel told police that two males covering their faces and wearing hoodies entered the gas station at 4:45 a. m. Friday, displayed handguns and demanded cash. Buffalo News
5/14/09 About four months ago, a Buffalo mother of three young children began a relationship with a 29-year-old man who killed her late Tuesday, police and neighbors said Wednesday.
De’aira Wall, 21, was fatally shot at about 11:25 p. m. in the bathroom of her townhouse, and four hours later, the boyfriend, Jesse L. Jones, whom she let live with her, critically wounded himself with a gunshot to the upper body.
“It appears to be an apparent murder-attempted suicide,” Chief of Detectives Dennis J. Richards said Wednesday afternoon. “It’s very disturbing. We’re trying to determine why somebody would do this.”(Buffalo News)

5/10/09 Javon Jackson was shot to death early this morning in University Heights, less than a day after graduating from the University at Buffalo in front of parents who came here from out of town. (Buffalo News)

5/10/09 A Kensington Avenue man was hit in the face with a gun and robbed in front of his house early Sunday. The man told police he was outside at about 1 a. m. Sunday when someone walked up to him and said, “Give me everything you got.” The victim laughed and turned around. but his assailant hit him in the face with a chrome gun, then took $85 and his cell phone from his pocket. (Buffalo News)

5/8/09 A man was mugged late Friday night while at Comstock Avenue and East Amherst Street by two men, one of whom fired a weapon during the incident, police said.The victim said the mugging occurred about 11:20 p. m. He said a man took $40 in cash from him while a second man displayed a rifle and fired once in the air. The muggers then fled east on East Amherst. (Buffalo News)

5/8/09 Police were investigating a report of shots being fired through a window of a Shirley Avenue home early Friday morning. A resident of the home told Northeast District police that he thought he heard firecrackers sometime between 2:45 a. m. and 3:30 a. m. Friday. Buffalo News

5/1/09 An Appleton man said he was stabbed and slashed by three men at about 4 a. m. Thursday during a robbery in the 2800 block of Main Street. The attackers emerged from a vehicle and cut the victim in the face, eyes and stomach and punched him repeatedly. (Buffalo News)

4/30/09 Two teenagers have been arrested for robbing a University at Buffalo student early Wednesday morning on the South Campus on Main Street.
The two suspects approached a male and female student on campus at about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, displayed a gun, and took off with the female’s purse, said UB Police Chief Gerald Schoenle.
University police were called and dispatched a description of the suspects. Buffalo police stopped two suspects a short time later near the campus at Main Street and Winspear Avenue. The two allegedly had the victim’s property, and a weapon was recovered. “It turned out to be an air gun,” Schoenle said.
Charged by police with robbery, possession of stolen property and possession of a weapon were David Desouza, 17, of Buffalo, as well as a 15-year-old male, Schoenle said.
UB police are working with Buffalo detectives to determine if this robbery is connected to a holdup early Monday near the South Campus.
In that case, three males approached a UB student at about 2 a.m. at Main Street and Englewood Avenue. The robbers, who all covered their faces with the hoods of their sweat shirts, demanded money. One suspect put a gun to the victim’s head and took the student’s iPhone and laptop, before the three ran away through a campus parking lot. (Buffalo News)

4/30/09 Northeast District police charged a 16-year-old and two juveniles in a gang-related robbery late last week. Buffalo police said Rahim Dunston of the 400 block of Minnesota Street, with the two juveniles, kicked, punched and threatened a man and robbed him of $200 Saturday at Minnesota Avenue and Suffolk Street. The three were charged with first-degree robbery. The victim suffered a broken jaw in the attack. (Buffalo News)

4/30/09 Buffalo police are searching for a bandit who handed a note to a teller stating he had a bomb and demanded money, police said. The robbery occurred about 2:50 p. m. Wednesday in the HSBC Bank branch at 340 Kenmore Ave. According to reports, the robber was a black male, about 5-foot-6, dressed in a black hooded sweat shirt and wore blue jeans, latex gloves and sunglasses. The note also said, “I want 100s and 50s, no dye pack.” (Buffalo News)

4/29/09 Northeast District police are continuing to investigate the shooting of a man in North Buffalo late Monday afternoon. Keenon Fitzgerald told police he was shot in the right calf at about 5:45 p. m. in front of a home on Heath Street in the Main Street-Englewood Avenue neighborhood. (Buffalo News)

4/29/09 Several residents were rescued from a second-floor roof and porch and 11 people were left homeless after a fire — apparently sparked by fireplace ashes placed in a trash bin — caused extensive damage to two North Buffalo houses about 4 a.m. today, occupants said.
But according to Rebecca McSwain, who rents quarters on the second-floor of 143 Wellington, the fire was sparked when residents of another apartment placed hot fireplace ashes in a blue city trash bin between the two houses. The fire started at 143 Wellington and spread to the house next door, she said.
Several hours earlier, she called police because the son of the downstairs resident was “tearing the place apart and having a fight with his friends,” McSwain said. “His mother is out of town picking up her other son, and the boy downstairs had started a fire in the fireplace,” McSwain said. “The police handcuffed him and took him outside, but then released him. He went back inside and started cleaning up the house.”
McSwain said that was when the son put the ashes in the trash bin, despite printed instructions on the bin not to do so. The ashes apparently smoldered for several hours before setting the house on fire, McSwain said. (Buffalo News)

4/27/09 Buffalo Police received a report of an armed robbery that occurred at the intersection of Main Street and Englewood Avenue at 2:05 a.m. on Monday April 27, 2009.
Three male suspects approached the victim and displayed a revolver. The suspects took the victim’s iPhone and laptop. The suspects were last seen running through the Townsend parking lot and then behind Saint Joseph’s Church.
The suspects were all described as black males wearing dark clothing. The shortest of the suspects displayed the revolver and had some kind of mask. (http://www.buffalo.edu/news/10075)

4/22/09 A Massachusetts Avenue man was the victim of a strong-arm robbery by two teenagers in Delaware Park on Tuesday afternoon.
The victim said he was in the park near the Hoyt Lake between 2:15 p. m. and 2:46 p. m. when he was approached by two teenagers, police said. He said he was held from behind and punched in the face. The teens took his wallet which contained $140 in cash, credit cards, a driver’s license and other items.(Buffalo News)

4/16/09 Several shots were fired late Wednesday at a home on Jewett Avenue, with one bullet whizzing through a window and almost hitting a woman who was sitting on the living room couch. Northeast district officers investigating the shooting recovered one bullet from the home and eight assault rifle shell casings from the street. (Buffalo News)

4/10/09 Buffalo police are investigating the home invasion of an Eggert Road address at about 10:30 a. m. Thursday.
Two men wearing masks, gloves and hooded sweat shirts, armed with a shotgun and a knife, entered the house in the 300 block of Eggert, threatened a 12-year-old with a knife and demanded drugs and money, police said. (Buffalo News)
4/8/09 Two would-be North Buffalo robbers and the two occupants of the house they targeted all ended up under arrest Monday afternoon.
When Darwin D. Brooks and Willie J. Carson kicked in the door of a residence in the 300 block of Huntington Avenue and pointed a handgun at Kalela Carter, she turned the tables and chased them out of the house and down the street.
Several Northwest District officers joined in the foot chase at about 11:30 a. m. and succeeded in catching Brooks, 33, of Hagen Street, in the 300 block of Woodbridge Avenue, and Carson, 24, of Melvin Place, at Depew and Linden avenues.
Officers also succeeded in recovering a 9 mm handgun that had been stashed inside the wheel well of a vehicle parked in the 400 block of Huntington.
Normally, that would have been the end of the story. But police suspected things were not in order in the house the robbers had targeted, and a search warrant was obtained. Officers’ suspicions paid off. Police said they recovered cocaine and marijuana that Carter, 25, and the other occupant, Samuel L. Rose, 24, intended to sell. Both were charged with criminal possession of narcotics by midafternoon. Brooks and Carson were charged with burglary, attempted robbery, criminal use of a firearm and criminal possession of a weapon. (Buffalo News)

4/1/09 Two youths who robbed a North Buffalo resident at gunpoint after he refused to let them borrow his cell phone were caught late Monday night, Northwest District police said.
“You’re going to let me use your phone, or I am going to shoot you,” one of the robbers told the victim at about 9:40 p. m. at the intersection of Colvin Avenue and Taunton Place, police said.
The victim said he tried to grab the silver handgun one of the robbers pointed at him but was wrestled to the ground. The other robber then put a foot on top on his throat to keep him pinned while the accomplice searched his pockets and took his wallet and cell phone.
Police later caught Willie T. Jessie, 17, of the 300 block of Pine Street, and Justin A. Gist, 17, of the 200 block of Voorhees Avenue, in the 400 block of Voorhees. They were charged with robbery and a criminal possession of a weapon. (Buffalo News)

3/31/09 Michael R. Ralston, 16, of Kenmore Avenue, was arrested after he allegedly held a 9mmBaretta to the head of another man at about 4:10 p. m. Saturday. He told the victim he would be dead in an hour. Ralston was found in possession of brass knuckles and did not give police his real name when he was arrested on Kenmore Avenue near Toledo Place about 90 minutes later, according to the report. He was charged with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, a Class C felony, as well as second-degree menacing, fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon and false personation. The gun was not recovered. (Buffalo News)
3/31/09 Buffalo police early Sunday arrested four men who are accused of violently assaulting three men in a fight in the University Heights neighborhood. Officers say the gang assault took place at about 12:45 a. m. at Englewood Avenue and Cornell Street when three friends were attacked by a group of four men. One victim suffered a broken nose when he was punched in the face. A second victim told police he was held in a headlock by one attacker and punched in the head by another. The third victim told police he was punched in the back of the head. The three sought treatment at Sisters Hospital.
The suspects, all of Buffalo, are Kevin Hoyler, 19; Kevin Langdon, 19; Matthew J. Bohack, 18; and Bryan R. Forbes, 18. They are charged with gang assault, assault and harassment. Forbes also is charged with obstructing governmental administration. (Buffalo News)

3/30/09 A woman was dragged by a man trying to steal her purse Saturday night in University Heights. The woman told Buffalo police the incident happened at Tyler and Cornell streets, just west of Main Street and Winspear Avenue, at 10:45 p. m., according to a police report. The robber grabbed the victim’s purse, knocked her to the ground and dragged her until she let it go. (Buffalo News)

3/30/09 An armed gunman stole potent prescription drugs at about 5:10 p. m. Sunday from the Walgreens drugstore at 3488 Main St. in the University Heights neighborhood, according to Buffalo police. The gunman displayed a weapon and demanded that the pharmacists give him Ambien and Sonata, both sleep aids; OxyContin, a narcotic pain reliever; and Lorazepam, which is used to treat anxiety disorders. The robber then ordered the employees to the ground and told them to count to 60. (Buffalo News)

3/28/09 Two 23-year-old men were arrested following a bar fight early Saturday at the Steer Restaurant & Saloon on Main Street in the University District. At about 3 a.m., Louis H. James of Staten Island allegedly threw a beer bottle at a man in the bar, hitting him on the left side of his face and causing severe bleeding, police said.The bouncer then tried to restrain James when Jason M. Legrett of Buffalo allegedly punched the bouncer. (Buffalo News)

3/22/09 Two men entered a home in the University Heights neighborhood Saturday and robbed the residents of cash and a cell phone. The victims told Buffalo police the two suspects entered the home on Lisbon Avenue through an open basement door at about 6:30 p. m. One of the intruders displayed a weapon and asked the residents where they kept the money, according to police reports. (Buffalo News)

Kiele Coleman
3/16/09 Two people are in critical condition at the Erie County Medical Center after they were shot in a car this afternoon on a St. Lawrence Ave. (Buffalo News)
Kiele Coleman, 22, remains hospitalized in critical condition at the hospital. She was shot in the head on Monday while riding in the front passenger seat of her boyfriend’s car on St. Lawrence Ave. in North Buffalo. “She went through the one surgery,” Bob Coleman said. “She still has a bullet in her head behind her eye socket. Every day, every hour, we just keep praying for her.” Kiele’s boyfriend, Frank Militello, 26, was also shot. He was driving the car and crashed it into a tree seconds after the shooting. Police are looking for Adrienne March, 21, of St. Lawrence Ave. She’s being described as a person of interest. She may be using the alias Vanessa Gregory, according to police. (WKBW)

3/6/09 Custer Street man arrested last June on a first-degree rape charge was taken into custody again Thursday, charged with another rape, of an 18- year-old girl on Dartmouth Avenue, Buffalo police said.
Rasheed I. Milton, 26, was arrested at about 7 p. m. by Officers Wendy Collier and Earl Perrin of the Mobile Response Unit along with detectives from the department’s Sex Offense Section. Milton, who forced the victim to have sexual intercourse, was charged with first-degree rape and unlawful imprisonment. Mr. Milton has quite a history in Buffalo. (Buffalo News)

2/12/09 Northeast District police responding to a call of a burglary in progress late Tuesday on the first block of Westminster Avenue caught three teenagers, one armed with a Taser, authorities said.
Thomas Benjamin, 17; Joshua Jackson, 17; and Christopher Sweat, 19, all of Lisbon Avenue, were charged with burglary and criminal possession of stolen property. Sweat was also charged with criminal possession of the Taser.

2/3/09 University Police are investigating a strong-arm robbery that occurred on Feb. 3, 2009, at approximately 7:55 p.m. in the Main/Bailey Parking Lot on the University at Buffalo South (Main Street) Campus. The victim was approached from behind and assaulted by a group described as four black males, 5-feet 10-inches to 6-feet tall, in their late teens to early 20s and all wearing dark clothing. (UB Reporter)

1/20/09 A 19-year-old Buffalo man is in fair condition in Erie County Medical Center today following a drive-by shooting in the Kensington-Bailey neighborhood. The shooting happened on the 500 block of Stockbridge Avenue, between Suffolk and Orleans streets, at about 2:10 p.m., Buffalo police spokesman Michael J. DeGeorge said. Police believe the victim was walking alone when someone inside what’s being described only as a green vehicle fired several shots at him. The victim was struck by more than one bullet. (Buffalo News)

1/18/09 The Buffalo Police Dept.’s homicide squad is asking for the public’s help identifying the victims of a Sunday morning fire at 39 Dartmouth Avenue. Fire investigators discovered the bodies of two adults – one male and one female – inside the house. Authorities say the bodies are too badly burned to be identified. (WGRZ) 1/24/09 The two people found burned beyond recognition in a University Heights house fire Sunday morning had been shot to death before the fire started, several sources confirmed Friday. (Buffalo News)

1/11/09 Three men were attacked during an early morning robbery in the Bailey-Kensington neighborhood today. One man was shot in the elbow and another was hit in the face with a gun, a blow which knocked out some teeth. (Buffalo News)