Man shot by Buffalo police is brother of 12-year-old boy killed

Roberts, 25, and Griffin had the same mother, Joann Ponzo, said Kareema Morris, a friend of Ponzo and founder of Bury the Violence, an organization that works with families of missing children.

A second family friend and a police source who asked not to be named also confirmed the victim’s name.

Buffalo police, who have scheduled a news conference for 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, have not released the name of the man who was killed.

The shooting happened shortly after midnight near Kensington and Poultney avenues, a few blocks west of Bailey Avenue, the police department said in a news release.

Police have not released further details about the circumstances of the shooting.

Buffalo homicide detectives and the department’s internal affairs division are conducting separate investigations, the spokesman said.

The department also notified the state Attorney General’s Office of Special Investigations.

An officer reported “shots fired” around 12:13 a.m., according to archived department radio transmissions on broadcastify.com.

About 20 seconds before that, an officer reported that a vehicle “attacked us” heading west on Kensington, according to the audio recording.

The service was also informed that “the child is doing well”.

About a minute after reporting gunshots, an officer asked emergency services to send an ambulance.

“A suspect was shot,” the officer said about 15 seconds later.

Roberts’ half-brother, Jaylen Griffin, was last seen on August 4, 2020, leaving his home on Warren Avenue in the Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood, near Central Terminal.

Her body was found April 12 in a home on Sheffield Avenue in South Buffalo and her death was ruled a homicide.

Roberts was charged in an April 22 shooting that left no one injured at a memorial service for his half-brother near Memorial Drive and Sweet Avenue.

Roberts was charged June 4 with attempted assault and weapons possession, according to the Erie County District Attorney’s Office. A court date in that case was scheduled for July 23, according to court documents.

The brothers’ mother, Ponzo, died on September 18, 2023, at the age of 48.

Jaylen’s older brother, Jawaan Griffin, was killed in a shooting on Memorial Drive in November 2020. He was 18.

The most recent shooting by a Buffalo police officer occurred Feb. 24 on Reed Street, where police encountered a man standing in the middle of the road wearing camouflage and holding a shotgun.

The shooting was described by department officials as a “suicide by cop,” meaning an incident in which a person acts to be killed by police.

The department released body camera footage in the days following the shooting.

This is a breaking news story. Check back regularly for updates.