BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Erie County District Attorney said Friday that no one will be charged in the death of Buffalo State student Tyler Lewis because the grand jury ruled his killing as justifiable.
“It makes me sick to my stomach,” Lewis’ mother Roquishia Lewis said. “There's no justification for murder.”
John Flynn said at least four people involved in the incident were planning to rob a marijuana dealer by making a deal with counterfeit cash on the night of October 14, but then it went wrong. A fight apparently broke out between Lewis, his four friends, and the dealer.
That's when Tyler Lewis was stabbed once by the dealer.
“The stabber here had justification to use deadly physical force on two theories,” Flynn said. “One, a robbery, and being a victim of robbery, and two, his own safety.”
Flynn said it took several months to piece together the story, from all the evidence and a number of witnesses.
UB campus police would only say that the person who stabbed Lewis was a white male. Initially, the family was told the killer was claiming self-defense.
For the past five months, the Lewis family has fought for answers regarding Tyler’s death, pointing blame on the District Attorney’s office for a lack of communication and recently even handing out flyers on UB’s campus, asking for any information related to the crime.
This prompted the District Attorney out of transparency to put the case in the hands of the grand jury, which ruled the killing as justifiable and that no charges would be filed.
“It appears by all accounts that the victim was a fine young man from a good, strong, supportive, loving family. But for those of us who have kids, as we all know, I got five on my own, sometimes kids get involved with other kids who steer them down the wrong path,” Flynn said.
While the justice system may have moved on from Tyler Lewis, his family says they have not.
“We're going to continue fighting,” Lewis said. “We're going to get it independent investigation going. This this is not going to stop with John Flynn."