courtesy: the buffalo news
Three people were shot, a fourth was struck by shrapnel, and at least two of the victims were critically injured in an apparent drive-by shooting early Saturday morning inside a Jefferson Avenue bar and lounge, Buffalo police reported.
“It was like 3:45, and we heard like a machine gun – at least 10 shots,” one neighbor said at mid-morning Saturday. “It woke us up. We said, ‘We’re not going out there. We don’t know which way they’re shooting.’”
The shooting occurred at New Foster’s Lounge, 694 Jefferson Ave., at the corner of Jefferson and Davis Street, about halfway between Genesee and Sycamore streets.
“Apparently, from what I’m getting, people drove by and started shooting,” a relative of one of the victims said outside the bar. Both the relative and neighbor asked not to be identified.
Police identified the three women victims as Diamond Barker, 31, who was shot in the chest; Kiara Spearman, 22, shot in the right lower abdomen; and Natasha Camp, 33, shot in the leg.
Barker and Spearman apparently were taken to Erie County Medical Center, where their conditions were not available late this morning. Camp apparently was taken to Buffalo General Hospital.
The fourth person, Dwyanell Marshall, 34, was struck by shrapnel in the face. Unconfirmed reports from Facebook suggested that he may have been a security officer working inside the lounge.
Central District Police reported that they were looking for an unknown single shooter, who was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt. The shots also caused damage to the front door of the bar, according to police reports.
Two people interviewed briefly outside the tavern at mid-morning Saturday gave vastly different versions of the scene at the bar.
Jozmin Cooper, 27, called the lounge “a nice place,” with Karaoke and other attractions.
“People don’t come here for trouble,” he said. “I don’t know what happened last night.”
But the neighbor who was questioned briefly had a totally different take.
“They fight every weekend,” this neighbor said. “It’s crazy. Outside it’s really rowdy. They party more outside than inside. They walk around with bottles of liquor, and they break bottles out here.”
Anyone with information is asked to call or text the Buffalo police confidential tip line at (716) 847-2255 or e-mail the department at www.bpdny.org.
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