A parolee released from prison just two and a half weeks ago was arrested Saturday in connection with the worst carnage the City of Buffalo has experienced in at least three decades.

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UPDATE: Charges against suspect dismissed this morning

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But before the day ended, law enforcement officials said they think they got the wrong man.

"We are having serious second thoughts," said Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III. "I have serious reservations about whether we have the right guy here."

Sedita said he planned this morning to move in City Court to dismiss charges against Keith D. Johnson, 25, of Buffalo, who was accused of murdering four people outside a downtown bar. Among those killed was a man who invited friends to the City Grill as part of his wedding anniversary celebration. The shooting also wounded four others, one critically.

The extraordinary move by law enforcement to change course after a murder arrest occurred after reviewing video and photos from the scene, and interviews with additional witnesses, Sedita said.

"What basically has happened," Sedita said, "is in the last eight hours ... we got additional video evidence. Investigators called me and said, Frank, you better come down here. We're having serious second thoughts.

"I looked at the evidence, along with four or five detectives, and the commissioner is here as well. There are certain discrepancies of people and clothing."

"I am going to probably ask the court to dismiss so we can continue the investigation, so we can be sure we have the right guy," he said.

Sedita's announcement came about 12 hours after Johnson was arrested at his home at 141 Minnesota Ave., by members of the Buffalo Police SWAT team, which also confiscated bloody clothing from the home.

Within hours of the arrest, relatives of one of the deceased, as well as one of the men wounded in the early morning shooting, disputed Johnson's arrest.

"There was only one gunman," said shooting victim James Robbs, who was released from the hospital Saturday night. "I didn't get a good look at him, but it wasn't Keith."

The sister of another of the victims said Johnson is a family friend. "He did not do this," said Shaneesha White, sister of Shawn-Tia McNeil, who died in the gunfire.

White's family showed a Buffalo News reporter a photograph taken at the City Grill prior to the shooting. In the picture were Johnson, McNeil and Willie McCaa III, among other individuals.

With Johnson no longer considered a suspect, police are looking at another suspect, but no arrests are imminent in connection with Saturday's shooting spree.

Killed in the carnage were:

• Danyell Mackin, 30, a former Buffalo man who had been living in Texas and returned to Buffalo with his wife to have a wedding party in Buffalo. She was not wounded.
• Tiffany Wilhite, 32; of Buffalo.
• Shawn-Tia McNeil, 27, of Buffalo, Tiffany Wilhite's cousin.
• Willie McCaa III, 26, of Buffalo.

The four who were wounded:

• Demario Vass, 30, who was in critical condition with a gunshot wound to his head.
• James Robbs Jr., 27, who was treated and released.
• Shamar Davis, 30, who is hospitalized in stable condition.
• Tillman Ward, 27, who was shot in the elbow and is listed in good condition.

"I'll never understand what would possess an individual to shoot eight people," said Police Commissioner Daniel Derenda. "It makes no sense. It is mind-boggling."

Authorities said a skirmish occurred in the early hours of Saturday morning inside City Grill, a popular Main Street bar and restaurant not far from the HSBC tower.

The City Grill disc jockey stopped the music, the lights went on, and the patrons were told to leave.

As the crowd was pouring outside, a gunman opened fire with a 9mm handgun, sources said. Some of the shots, they said, came from a parking lot across the street.

When authorities were asked later Saturday how many shots were fired, Derenda declined to say, but Sedita responded: "a lot."

It wasn't long after the shooting occurred that police had identified a suspect: Keith Johnson, 25, of 141 Minnesota Ave., who was released 2 1/2 weeks ago from state prison.

The dramatic apprehension of Johnson began at 10:45 a.m., with police going door-to-door on either side of 141 Minnesota Ave., telling people to evacuate their homes, neighbors said.

At about 10:50 a.m., two SWAT trucks arrived, and SWAT team members began taking tactical positions on the street. It became apparent the police were focused on a two-story house at 141 Minnesota. SWAT officers surrounded the house. One then got on a bull horn and shouted "come out with your hands up."

First, two women and a child came out of the house. The SWAT team then approached the front door with shields up and knocked on the door. At 11 a.m., the SWAT team went inside; a few minutes later, the suspect -- wearing jeans and a white T-shirt -- was seen leaving the house, his hands cuffed behind his back. He was placed in the back of a patrol car.

Some officers remained at the house and, armed with a search warrant, conducted a search of the home at about 1:45 p.m. Officers removed bloody clothing from the house, sources said.

Johnson was one of two teenagers charged in 2002 with a drive-by shooting on Goodyear Avenue that left another teenager hospitalized in critical condition. Johnson was not the shooter but was driving the stolen car that the shot was fired from.

Johnson was convicted of attempted first-degree assault, according to state Department of Corrections records. Johnson was originally incarcerated in September 2003 and again in August 2008 in connection with that case, records show. It was not known why his sentence was extended in 2008, but records show he was sentenced for up to 3 1/2 more years. He was paroled July 28.

Some family members of the shooting victims said they were aware of Johnson's criminal past, but that had nothing to do with the fact that Johnson was not the City Grill shooter.

"Keith was not the shooter," said Robbs, interviewed after he left the hospital Saturday night. "He was with us."

Robbs said he and Johnson were at the Grill attending a friend's birthday party, not the Mackin wedding celebration.

Robbs and others also said that everyone had blood on them that night, since they were caring for the wounded and dead. That Johnson had bloody clothes in his house was no surprise, since he was at the bloody scene, where his friends were wounded, Robbs and others said.

In the initial hours after Johnson's arrest, Derenda said he was aware of the comments from McNeil's family members and others who know Johnson and proclaim his innocence.

"I'm aware of what is being said," the commissioner said. "We sent detectives back out to interview people, and we're continuing the investigation."

Word of Johnson's impending release came as welcome news to Robbs.

"I feel good about it," he said early Sunday morning. "Nobody should go to jail for something they didn't do."

Sedita agreed.

Sedita said Johnson probably violated parole by going to a bar Saturday, but that pales in comparison to the crime that was committed that night.

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• Audio from news conference announcing charges filed
• Video of a victim's relative who returned to the shooting scene
• Video report from University Heights, where SWAT Team apprehended suspect
• Video report from the shooting scene
• Photos from the scene
• Audio from Chief of Detectives Dennis Richards
• Audio from Tiffany Wilhite's father
• Audio from Shawn-Tia McNeil's mother