(WNY News Now) – A Getzville man has been indicted for his alleged involvement in a fatal shooting that claimed the life of a 19-year-old man in Buffalo’s Genesee-Moselle neighborhood last summer.
Erie County District Attorney Michael J. Keane announced that 23-year-old Jahi Pope, of Getzville, was arraigned Friday afternoon before Erie County Court Judge Suzanne Maxwell Barnes on an indictment charging him with one count of Murder in the Second Degree (Class A-I felony) and one count of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree (Class C violent felony).
Prosecutors allege that on July 29, 2024, at approximately 5:42 p.m., Buffalo Police responded to reports of a shooting on the 1400 block of Broadway near Liddell Street. Upon arrival, officers found 19-year-old Naszair E. Sanders suffering from gunshot wounds. Sanders was pronounced dead at the scene.
Investigators accuse Pope of participating in the fatal shooting. He was subsequently taken into custody and remains held without bail. A future court date has not yet been scheduled.
If convicted of the top charge, Pope faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in state prison.
District Attorney Keane commended the work of Buffalo Police Detective Sergeant Sean McCabe, Detectives Jose Lorenzo, Judith Walker, Jerry Guilian, and Michelle Palamara, Officers Andrew Moffet and Joshua Kaczmarek, as well as the Amherst Police Department and the Erie County Crime Analysis Center for their assistance in the ongoing investigation.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Justin H. Caldwell of the DA’s Homicide Bureau.
As with all criminal cases, the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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