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Cole's cook admits stabbing restaurant owner

Chris Caya
/
WBFO News

A former cook at Cole's restaurant on Elmwood Avenue has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of third degree assault in Buffalo City Court for stabbing the restaurant's owner.

The Erie County District Attorney's Office said John R. Luper III, 30, of Buffalo was working in the Elmwood Avenue restaurant kitchen during mid-afternoon Dec. 1, 2019 when he got into an argument with owner Mike Shatzel.

Prosecutors said the argument escalated when Luper stabbed Shatzel in the torso with a chef's knife. Shatzel was treated for the wound at Erie County Medical Center and has since recovered.

Luper was sentenced to a conditional discharge, and ordered to stay away from the victim and the business.

Mark Wozniak, WBFO's local All Things Considered host, has been at WBFO since mid-1978.