BUFFALO, N.Y. — The trial of a man accused of killing a 54-year-old woman and her grandchild continued Monday morning. Kenyatta Austin is accused of shooting multiple people in July of 2018.
Austin was arraigned and charged in August of 2019 for the killings. If he is convicted of all charges, Austin faces up to 69 years in prison.
On the second day of the trial, the prosecution submitted two more pieces of evidence that was accepted by the defense. Citing the newly enacted criminal justice reform law, the defense will now have time to review the new evidence.
Despite the new evidence, the defense gave its opening statement Monday morning in the non-jury trial.
The most shocking part of the testimony Monday came when a family friend, Tonya Ervin, testified she overheard someone matching the description of the defendant claiming he shot and killed the two victims in this case.
Ervin says hours after the shooting, while still in the Fruit Belt, she overheard a man matching the description of Austin admit that he shot the victims and that, "he had a big gun" and that the victims shouldn't have been outside.
Ervin later said she wasn't 100 percent sure it was Austin who made this comment.
Ervin says she came forward with this information to police after the funeral for Yvette and Kyrie Johnson.
Buffalo Police detective Anthony Fanara also testified about how he responded to the Grape Street shooting and encountered a very graphic scene and that police were not able to immediately identify the shooter.