Orchard Park Police shot and killed an individual Friday night, OPPD Chief Patrick Fitzgerald announced in a statement Saturday morning.
OPPD is in “the early stages” of its investigation into the shooting, according to Fitzgerald. The New York State Police Forensic Identification Unit and the New York State Attorney General’s Office are assisting in that investigation.
Police hadn’t released any details about the victim, the circumstances leading up to the shooting, or the officer(s) who fired their weapons as of Saturday morning. Fitzgerald said that OPPD was assisted at the scene by New York State Police, Hamburg Police, Blasdell Police, Orchard Park Fire Company and Orchard Park EMS.
“It is too early to discuss the specifics of the incident,” Fitzgerald said. “Solid facts will be released once they are available.”
The shooting marks the fourth time this year that a police officer in Western New York fatally shot a civilian.
Hamburg Police fatally shot 36-year-old Lisa Haight of Jamestown while investigating a burglary call in February. Officers shot Haight after she made stabbing motions at them with what the officers say they thought was a knife. The object turned out to be a small flashlight. Haight was later found to be responsible for stabbing another person in the days before the shooting. That person was injured but survived. The New York State Attorney General’s Office has opened an investigation into the incident.
Later in February, Buffalo police shot and killed 58-year-old Edward Holmes. Holmes called 911 and then waited in the middle of Reed Street with a shotgun. Buffalo police officers shot and killed Holmes after he fired his gun. The New York State Attorney General’s Office declined to press charges against the officers involved.
And in July, BPD Officer Ronald Ammerman fatally shot 25-year-old Dae’von Roberts. Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said in a press conference that Ammerman had pulled Roberts over for speeding and tinted windows. Ammerman asked Roberts to step out of the car because he couldn’t provide ID, at which point Roberts sped off. Ammerman, who was hanging onto the door frame, was dragged alongside the car and eventually opened fire, killing Roberts. The State Attorney General’s Office has opened an investigation into that case as well.
Under state law, the State Attorney General’s Office is required to investigate “every incident reported to it where a police officer or a peace officer, including a corrections officer, may have caused the death of a person by an act or omission.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.