Staff Reporter: The person of interest in the deadly shooting on Zenner Street in Buffalo appeared in court on Monday afternoon.
The Erie County District Attorney’s Office announced that 31-year-old Dale O. Cummings, of no permanent address, was arraigned Monday and charged with criminal possession of a weapon.
Cummings will be held without bail until Friday when there will be a felony hearing in Buffalo City Court.
On Saturday just after 12:30 p.m., the Buffalo Police Department responded to reports of a shooting on Zenner Street.
Police said that two men, Babul Meah and Abu Yousuf, were hired to clean the Zenner Street house before it was to be sold by a management company. According to police, when the men got to the porch, a squatter inside opened fire, shooting both men. One of the men was found on the porch and was pronounced dead on the scene. The other was found in the street and transported to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Officials believed the shooter was still inside the house, prompting the city’s Crisis Management Team as well as a SWAT team to engage in a four-hour standoff. But when police and SWAT Team entered the house, it was empty. Several hours later, police gained access to footage from neighbors that revealed that the shooter left the house before officials surrounded it.
On Monday, Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gragmaglia said numerous items in the house aided police in their investigation and helped locate Cummings. According to police, a receipt from a corner store found in the home was able to help them find a clearer surveillance image of him and then they were able to take him into custody with help from the community.
Gramaglia said Cummings was allegedly in possession of a 9 mm long rifle that collapsed in half making it easily concealable in a bag.
The Erie County District Attorney’s Office said Cummings was remanded after a DA request. The interim DA said the purpose of the felony hearing on Friday is to produce proof to the court that Cummings possessed the illegal firearm in question, this would allow them to keep him in custody.
The investigation into the homicides is ongoing and the district attorney’s office will continue to work with its partners and expects developments in that case in the near future.
Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said it does not appear the men were targeted. One of the victims was a father of two with a baby on the way, the other a father of seven.
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