Police: Two Brothers Shoot Same Man 5 Years Apart

[Pudge]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,359469,00.html


A 21-year-old Buffalo, New York man has been charged with the attempted murder of a paraplegic shot by the suspect's brother five years ago.
According to the Buffalo News, Ronnie Austin is accused of shooting Jamal Watts, 21, twice in the chest while he sat in his wheelchair Sunday afternoon.
It was Austin’s brother who put Watts in a wheelchair to begin with, when Jarmell Austin shot Watts in 2003, the Buffalo News reported. That shooting left Watts a paraplegic and earned Jarmell a 25-year prison sentence, the paper added.
Sunday's incident was actually the third time Watts has been shot in the past 12 years.
He was initially listed in critical condition at Erie County Medical Center but has since been upgraded to fair.
Police said they also charged Ronnie Austin with criminal possession of a weapon, as he was carrying the gun used to shoot Watts when they arrested him Tuesday, according to the Buffalo News.

[gozling]

I find that very funny in a very sick way

[Ducky]

I would LOVE to know the full story behind this one.

[op246]

Me too. Why is the brothers gunning for this guy??

[lewisipso]

Whatever the reason apparently the guy in the wheelchair hasn't learned his lesson yet.

[Buttercup]

I would LOVE to know the full story behind this one.

So would I, Ducky.

[Ducky]

A bit more info

A 21-year-old Buffalo man was charged with attempted murder Tuesday in the shooting of a paraplegic man in a wheelchair.


Ronnie Austin, of Erickson Avenue, is accused of using a .22-caliber handgun to shoot Jamal Watts, 31, of Langfield Avenue, striking him twice in the chest on Sunday afternoon.


In 2003, Watts was shot by Ronnie Austin’s brother, Jarmell Austin. That shooting left Watts a paraplegic, and Jarmell Austin was sentenced in 2005 to 25 years in prison for attempted murder.

Watts has now been shot at least three separate times over the past 12 years.


All that gunfire left him critically injured at least twice.


On Tuesday, Watts was listed in fair condition in Erie County Medical Center, where his condition was upgraded from critical.


Police said Watts was struck by bullets just before 2 p. m. Sunday while he was on the sidewalk in his wheelchair in the 300 block of Langfield.


Detective Sgt. David Lillis and Detectives Mark Lauber and William Donovan, all with the department’s Homicide Unit, arrested Austin just after 11 a. m. Tuesday.


In addition to attempted murder, they charged him with criminal possession of a weapon. Police said they also recovered the .22-caliber handgun, which was found in Austin’s waistband.


“As the detectives were headed to his house, which is not far from the intersection of Bailey and Wecker, they came up to the intersection and saw the suspect,” said Buffalo Police spokesman Michael J. DeGeorge. “The detectives stopped the car, jumped out of the vehicle, and apprehended the suspect, who was armed at the time.”


Watts was previously shot July 2, 2003, when he tried to break up a dice game during a party after a funeral. The party in the Kenfield- Langfield housing projects was attended by about 150 people who, earlier that day, had attended the double funeral of two Buffalo boys killed in a car crash.

When an argument erupted during the dice game, a gunman opened fire, striking Watts several times in the back and the neck, police said.
At the time, Watts was hospitalized with critical injuries. The injury left him a paraplegic who cannot speak, and with severe memory loss.


Two years later, 24-year-old Jarmell Austin was sentenced to 25 years for the shooting.

Watts also suffered a gunshot wound to his face on Oct. 11, 1996.
At the time, Watts told police that someone in a car fired two rounds at him in the 300 block of Wilson. One bullet hit him in the left side of the face, exiting through his nostril.


Four years ago, The Buffalo News interviewed the accused at a ceremony to honor students at the Bob Lanier Center on Hempstead Avenue.


A 17-year-old Ronnie Austin, then a student at Grover Cleveland High School, was among those sitting in the 300-plus audience at the ceremony featuring an address by NBA Hall of Famer Bob Lanier.


“I look up to him because he’s tall, too,” Austin, at 6 feet, 2 inches, told The Buffalo News in a March 28, 2004 interview. “He never gave up, and I think if he can make it, so can I . . . I want to be a basketball player too. If that doesn’t work out I want to be a lawyer.”



http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregio...ry/357023.html