BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Buffalo Police are investigating a double homicide in the Allentown neighborhood.
The crime happened on Tuesday on St. Louis Place. Acting Buffalo Mayor Chris Scanlon said that Michael "Mickey" Harmon, 40, and Jordan Celotto, 37, were killed.
Scanlon said during a new conference on Wednesday that Harmon and Celotto were well-known members of the Allentown and LGBTQ+ communities. According to the mayor, there are no indications that this was a hate crime, but police will follow all leads during their investigation.
Authorities said on Thursday that key pieces of evidence have been recovered that could help investigators better understand what happened.
Below you can watch our report from 6 p.m. on Wednesday. We spoke to Michael Moch and Zachary Berbary, the co-owners of 26 on Allen, and Jonathan White from the Allentown Association.
"Mickey was a passionate and fearless advocate for the queer community in Buffalo," Moch said of Harmon.
"He was such a gentle soul and just a very awesome counterpart to Mickey's fierceness," Berbary said of Celotto.
"If Jordan was DJing, then Mickey was running in the party in the crowd, and they were just such a good pair together, such a good compliment to each other," Moch said. "They were fierce queer advocates, but they were an advocate for Buffalo as a whole. You couldn't ask for better cheerleaders or people who were trying to do more to make the city better."
"One is never prepared for this kind of loss," White said. "When you do hear it, the first reaction is that it can't be true, and when it becomes true, it still just doesn't seem real."
Buffalo Police Deputy Commissioner Patrick Overdorf said that around 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, officers were dispatched to 5 St. Louis Place for the report of a person with a knife. Upon arrival, officers encountered a 35-year-old man with a knife who allegedly cut himself before dropping the knife. The man was transported to ECMC, where he remains under the supervision of police as a person of interest in the homicides.
Overdorf said officers found Harmon and Celotto dead inside the home and the medical examiner's officer determined the cause of death to be blunt force trauma.
On Thursday, police sent the following report to 7 News:
Fillmore District Council Member Mitch Nowakowski said Harmon and Celotto were his personal friends.
"I come here as the district Council member for Allentown and someone who is a member of the LGBTQ community," Nowakowksi said during a press conference. "The two homicide victims are my constituents, but they are also my personal friends, so it makes today even more harsh to have to gather these facts and make sure that I can help lead my community and make sure that we have good information. As district Council member and as a member of the LGBTQ community, there is nothing that suspects that this was a hate crime, so I want to put those tensions at ease."
Nowakowkski said Harmon and Celotto were artists and people of the Allentown community who made it better and made things happen.
"When you look and see Allentown — its vibrancy, its festivals, its artwork — think of them because that is who they are," Nowakowski said. "They do not deserve to have their legacy attached with the heinous crime that happened yesterday."
After word of the couple's death spread, people started a memorial at Harmon's shop, The Good Stuff, and at the Stonewall mural that Harmon painted on the side of Edison's Proof and Provision Bar.
"This is his artwork right here that we're at," Leighton Jones said. "You can tell by his artwork being on Allen Street that he had major impact here. It's really rough for the community to understand what's happening right now."
Jones worked closely with Harmon on community projects. Harmon was a community pillar in a number of organizations in the arts and the queer community.
"Mickey was on the board of the Buffalo-Niagara LGBTQ History Project," Jones said. "They are outlining LGBTQ+ people who are creating history in the City of Buffalo, locally. To map that out is hard work. He was interested and involved deeply in art but also showcasing anything that queer people represent; Queer leadership, having a queer voice and really showcasing what activism looks like."
The Allentown community has planned tributes to the beloved couple. You can find more information here.
