BUFFALO, N.Y. — A Cheektowaga man will spend up to the next 25 years behind bars for the shooting death of a store clerk and the attempt to kill the police officer responding to the call.
Erie County Court Judge James Bargnesi sentenced 29-year-old Travis Zukic Wednesday morning. Zukic walked into the 7-Eleven on French Rd. in Cheektowaga the morning of March 1, 2020 and shot store clerk 23-year-old Hannah Morse.
The Erie County District Attorney's office says a few minutes later, Zukic intentionally fired a shot at the Cheektowaga police officer responding to the call. The officer was not hurt and took Zukic into custody. Morse was rushed to ECMC where she died a short time later.
Investigators believe it was a random attack and that Zukic and Morse did not know each other. Two other employees were in the store at the time of the shooting.
Back in August, Zukic pleaded guilty as charged to one count of murder in the second degree and one count of attempted murder in the first degree.
“This one of the most senseless and gruesome crimes that has been prosecuted by this office since I became District Attorney, said Erie County DA John Flynn. "This defendant randomly targeted these women while they were at work and forced them at gunpoint into a back room where he decided to murder Hannah Morse as her two co-workers watched in horror."
"Hannah was pursuing her dreams and working at this convenience store to pay for her college tuition when this defendant decided to end her young life. The two surviving victims will be forever traumatized by what they witnessed on that tragic day. I hope that the family of Hannah Morse feels that justice has been served by this defendant being sentenced to potentially a lifetime of imprisonment."