© 2024 Western New York Public Broadcasting Association

140 Lower Terrace
Buffalo, NY 14202

Mailing Address:
Horizons Plaza P.O. Box 1263
Buffalo, NY 14240-1263

Buffalo Toronto Public Media | Phone 716-845-7000
WBFO Newsroom | Phone: 716-845-7040
Your NPR Station
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Officials respond to park shootings

Buffalo police are hoping someone will come forward and identify the man who walked up to a birthday party Saturday night in Martin Luther King Park and fired multiple rounds into people leaving the party.

"One individual gunman is who we're looking for," Chief of Detectives Dennis Richards told WBFO and AM970 News.

Mayor Brown spent part of Sunday at the park, trying to reassure the public that the case will be solved swiftly.

"It certainly is a cowardly act," Richards said, noting the incident occurred the day before Mother's Day.

"Mothers and grandmothers and aunts and people's lives are forever marred."

The five victims have not been identified, though two men are in critical condition and two men and one woman are in stable condition.

Mike Desmond is one of Western New York’s most experienced reporters, having spent nearly a half-century covering the region for newspapers, television stations and public radio. He has been with WBFO and its predecessor, WNED-AM, since 1988. As a reporter for WBFO, he has covered literally thousands of stories involving education, science, business, the environment and many other issues. Mike has been a long-time theater reviewer for a variety of publications and was formerly a part-time reporter for The New York Times.