BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo Police are asking for help in identifying a person in connection to Saturday's double homicide on Zenner Street.
Police said that the person in the pictures provided on Sunday afternoon was last seen yesterday on Zenner Street. The individual could potentially be armed and dangerous.
Anyone who sees the person, or who recognizes the person, is urged to call 911 immediately.
Crime Stoppers WNY on Sunday issued a reward of up to $7,500 for information leading to the arrest or indictment of the person(s) responsible for the homicides of Babul Meah and Abu Yousuf, whom the organization identified as the victims of the Zenner Street shooting.
Buffalo Police responded to a call for shots fired around 12:35 p.m. Saturday and arrived on scene at the 100 block of Zenner Street to find one man dead on the porch and another shot in the street, who was later declared dead at the hospital.
Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said a preliminary investigation found that the house was vacant and in the process of being sold by the management company that owns it. He said that the two victims were workers hired to prepare the home to close next week. When they arrived, they were met by whom authorities believe was a squatter, who shot and killed them.
Buffalo Police do not know how long the squatter had been in the home but said there is some evidence that he had been there for some time.
“They were workers,” Gramaglia said. “These were innocent people that were there to clean up the house to do work on the house and to get it ready for closing as a part of that sale.”
Buffalo Police, SWAT teams and an AirOne helicopter surrounded the house for six hours. After waiting for a search warrant to enter the home, authorities learned through video surveillance that the person of interest fled out the back of the house before officers arrived on scene. He is still at large.
Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown also shed light on what happened when he appeared for his weekly "Talk of the Town" radio show on WUFO radio. He said the two victims were members of the Bangladeshi community. Gramaglia said they both had addresses in Buffalo.
Brown said the shooting had nothing to do with race, adding that it was not a hate crime.
"Obviously they're members of our community, and so the community is trying to raise money today for the widows of these gentlemen,” Brown said. “One of the men had two children, and a young baby on the way, and another one of the men had seven children. So these were two innocent men there for work, and sadly, incredibly, in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Mayor Brown went on to talk about too many illegal guns on the street, and about a push for tighter gun laws.
"They weren't known by the person that shot them," Brown said of the victims. "This was somebody illegally in this house, squatting, that happened to be armed, that opened by anyone that came to that door."
Gramaglia said that he and Mayor Brown visited the Buffalo Muslim Center on Fillmore Avenue to meet with members of the community at the mosque.
"They're very emotional, they were very upset," he said. "We're emotional and upset as well."
Anyone with information on these shootings are asked to call or text the Confidential TIPCALL Line at 716-847-2255. You can contact Crime Stoppers WNY at 716-867-6161, or submit a tip on its mobile app.