BUFFALO, N.Y. — A house in Buffalo once at the center of a family’s memories is now the site of its biggest tragedy.
The Holmes family remembers their father and grandfather’s house on Reed Street for the cookouts, parties, and family reunions.
But Saturday, it was where Edward Holmes, 58, was shot and killed by two Buffalo Police officers.
“It’s never going to be the same again, ever,” Holmes’ granddaughter, Nashay Scott, said.
Friends and family of Holmes joined in prayer Sunday evening for a vigil outside the home where Buffalo Police said they responded around 10 a.m. Saturday to a 911 call of a man with a gun.
Authorities arrived on scene to find Holmes with a shotgun and said he fired a round, prompting two officers to return fire, striking him multiple times and later pronouncing him dead at the scene.
“My dad ain’t never been the type of man to come out and shoot at no police,” Edward Holmes Jr. said. “I'm not hearing it. I don't buy it. That's not my dad.”
Buffalo Police and the Attorney General’s office have launched an investigation into the shooting, but many questions still remain like why the 911 call came from the victim’s phone.
"He called out for help,” the victim’s daughter, Lakia Holmes, said. “Instead of y'all coming to help him, y’all killed him.”
Until they know exactly what happened, the loved ones just want justice.
“If I go out and I start shooting people, I go to jail for it, so the police need to go to jail for it, too,” Holmes Jr. said.
Buffalo Police have vowed to release the body camera footage from the incident and said that will come in the next week. Per protocol, the two officers involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave amid the investigation.