A 17-year-old Kenyan native has been charged with fatally stabbing a 16-year-old East Side resident during a West Side fight Thursday that involved as many as 20 young people, police and city officials said this afternoon.
Muridi Mohamed allegedly stabbed Dai’John Johnson in front of his Vermont Street home in Buffalo’s culturally diverse West Side.
But whether ethnic differences figured into the slaying, a possibility raised by a community activist, remains under investigation, according to Police Commissioner Daniel Derenda.
The home Mohamed was living in on the 300 block of Vermont, between 16th Street and Lowell Place, caught fire Sunday night. Police say they do not know if the blaze is connected to the killing.
At a City Hall news conference this afternoon, Mayor Byron W. Brown said information provided by witnesses played a key role in taking Mohamed into custody Saturday and then charging him with second-degree murder Sunday.
"It sends a clear message that if people come forward from the public with good information, our police will solve the crime," Brown said.
Mohamed attends Buffalo public schools and has been in the United States about five years, according to police.
Source-http://www.buffalonews.com/city/communities/buffalo/article523279.ece
