BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — A Buffalo teenager is dead after a shooting late last night in the Riverside neighborhood. Buffalo police say they were called to Esser Avenue just after 10pm. The 17-year-old boy died at the scene.
Investigators believe it was a targeted shooting and happened right outside a church.
Reverend Angelo Chimera was in bed just feet away from where police say a 17-year-old was killed Monday night on Esser Street. It happened right near All Saint's Church. Reverend Chimera showed 7 News Lia Lando security video from around the time of the shooting. It shows someone running through the church parking lot. Chimera explains, "He ran down Chaddock towards Ontario." He says police were at the church Tuesday morning looking at the video and interviewing neighbors
Chimera explains, "They're going house to house asking anybody if they saw anything. The police came and they roped off everything. The detectives were here this morning. We have cameras and they saw somebody running through the parking lot and down the street down Chaddock."
Police say this appears to be a targeted shooting. The Charter School For Applied Technologies tells 7 News the 17 year old victim was a student there. They did not want to comment on the case but say counselors and social workers are available for students suffering from anxiety or sadness over the loss.
Chimera says over the years the violence has forced many people out of the neighborhood and out of his church. Chimera says, "We have a lot that have gone to other churches because they moved away so we're struggling here, financially." He worries that more young people are going to lose their lives to gun violence and says, "What's worse than taking life? That's the end of the story. There's nothing else you can do after that. That's pure evil."
