Prosecutor drops charges against parolee in NY killings

August 16, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

BUFFALO, N.Y.

A prosecutor dropped charges Sunday against a parolee initially accused of killing four people and wounding four others outside a downtown restaurant and said the real shooter appeared on surveillance tape.

Erie County District Attorney Frank Sedita III asked a judge to dismiss four murder counts against Keith Johnson in light of new evidence.

“We can see the race, gender, the height, build, the clothing of the perpetrator,” Sedita said after City Court Judge Patrick Carney granted the request. “You can see many of the perpetrator’s actions. We have him shooting on video.”

Still investigators pleaded for witnesses to speak up and warned that the person responsible for the City Grill shootings continued to elude them.

“We have somebody running around out there who shot eight people,” Sedita said. “We have an armed man who’s extremely dangerous loose in our community.”

Johnson, 25, of Buffalo, was released on parole in July after serving two years for assault. He remained in jail Sunday on an allegation of a parole violation for being at the bar Saturday, and investigators said he could be a witness in the City Grill case.

Police Commissioner Daniel Derenda said that after Johnson’s arrest late Saturday, witnesses began calling to say they had the wrong man. But when investigators arrived to question the callers “half of them disappeared,” he said.

The commissioner said many people saw the Saturday shootings. He said more than 100 people were outside the restaurant when police arrived shortly after 2:30 a.m. An altercation at the City Grill prompted managers to close the restaurant. As people were leaving, a man began shooting, police said.

Four people, including a Texas man who was celebrating his first wedding anniversary in his hometown, were killed. Among the four wounded, one was critically injured.

Johnson was arrested by a police SWAT team. Investigators also removed security cameras from around the restaurant Saturday and viewed the images into the evening.