(WNY News Now) – A Buffalo man will spend 25 years to life in prison for fatally shooting a man and threatening another with an illegal firearm inside a Jefferson Avenue residence.
BUFFALO, N.Y. – Joel Coleman, 43, of Buffalo, was sentenced Friday to 25 years to life in prison for the fatal shooting of Nicholas D. Petroski and threatening another individual during the 2022 incident, Erie County District Attorney Michael J. Keane announced.
The crime occurred on the morning of September 20, 2022, around 5:15 a.m., inside a home on the 400 block of Jefferson Avenue. Coleman used an illegal firearm to shoot Petroski, 34, once in the neck, killing him at the scene. During the same incident, Coleman also pointed the gun at a second individual, placing the person in fear of physical harm.
Following a two-week trial in September 2024, a jury convicted Coleman on all counts after approximately three hours of deliberation. He was found guilty of Murder in the Second Degree, Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree, and Menacing in the Second Degree.
A co-defendant, Azaliyah A. Serrano, 24, of Kenmore, was previously indicted in connection to the assault of the surviving victim. Serrano pleaded guilty to Assault in the Second Degree and was sentenced in July 2023 to a determinate term of two years in prison.
Erie County Court Judge Sheila A. DiTullio handed down Coleman’s sentence.
District Attorney Keane praised the Buffalo Police Department, particularly Detectives Mark White and Scott Malec, for their work on the case. The prosecution was led by Chief Eugene T. Partridge, III, of the Homicide Bureau and Assistant District Attorney Briana R.D. Kalman of the Narcotics/Intelligence Bureau.
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