Eight young people who grew up on Buffalo's streets were gunned down in a hail of bullets last weekend outside City Grill downtown, four of them fatally.

They left grieving families. Mournful friends.

And arrest and conviction records.

Their records indicating past or present associations with crime begets a certain lifestyle risk, law enforcement and criminology experts say.

"A felony prosecution or conviction increases your statistical likelihood of becoming a victim of a crime, and it's particularly true for men and particularly true for African-Americans," said Yvonne Downes, a criminal justice professor at Hilbert College. "It doesn't mean that the people deserved it or in any way had it coming."

Added a local law enforcement official who asked not to be named: "There were some very dangerous people there. There were numerous gang bangers and other unscrupulous people. But there were a lot of good people."

Family members, friends and community leaders say the victims were working to be better people and certainly didn't deserve the fate that befell them Aug. 14.

Records from the Buffalo Police Department and Erie County Court show that seven of the eight people had brushes with the law at some point in their lives, including two arrested just last month on charges involving firearms. Records also showed:

•  One of the dead victims was on probation and forbidden from being inside any establishment serving alcohol.
• Two of the eight who were shot served state prison time on weapons or assault charges.
• Five are convicted felons.
• Six have been arrested by Buffalo police since 2008.

In addition, three individuals who attended the party and are now under investigation or wanted for questioning in the slayings also have extensive criminal records, reports show, as does Keith D. Johnson, the parolee who was partying at City Grill and initially picked up by police in the murder.

"These people may have had connections to some bad people, and some of them may have had [criminal] problems themselves," another law enforcement source said of the victims. "But, they certainly didn't deserve to be gunned down in cold blood like that."

Questions raised

While no one suggests that any of the victims deserved to be shot, the records do call into question what kind of party was going on at the City Grill and what kind of crowd the owners were catering to at their establishment.

They also call into question Mayor Byron W. Brown's statement after the City Grill shootings that "these kinds of activities could happen any place at any time."

Others question examining the police and court records.

"Because they had one, two arrests, it caused them to be slaughtered? That's just really ridiculous," said Arlee Daniels Jr., chairman of the Stop the Violence Coalition. "You show me a man on the face of the earth who never sinned."

Those close to the victims bristle at suggestions there's a connection between past criminal transgressions and what happened outside City Grill.

"Which one of us growing up was Mother Teresa, other than Mother Teresa?" asked the Rev. Kinzer Pointer, who knew several of the victims and their families. "To paint everyone with a brush that their lifestyle led to this? Give me a break."

A more detailed review of law enforcement records, however, shows of the eight victims, many had violent felony arrests and/or convictions:

• James Robbs Jr., 27, who served more than a year in prison for felony attempted assault, has a felony case pending after he was arrested July 2 with his father, James Sr., 49, for weapons and drug possession. Buffalo narcotics detectives raided a Schuele Street address and allegedly uncovered a loaded .38-caliber revolver, a rifle, marijuana, and crack cocaine residue, as well as scales and packaging material. Robbs was sentenced to prison in 2001 after he shot at another man but missed and shot an innocent bystander, a 51-year-old woman, in the ankle. Shortly after the shooting, an eyewitness led police to where Robbs was playing basketball.
• Tillman Ward, 27, also has a felony case pending against him for weapons possession after authorities apprehended him at a July 6 traffic stop and discovered an indictment warrant accusing him of possessing a loaded firearm.
• Tiffany Wilhite, 31, who was killed in the massacre outside City Grill, was serving a five-year sentence of probation for felony reckless endangerment in connection with a January 2009 fight outside a Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood bar where she used her Jeep Cherokee to run down four women, breaking one of the victim's pelvis in four places.
• Willie R. McCaa III, 26, who was also killed, had survived a March 2008 shooting outside an East Side store. He was scheduled for trial last week in State Supreme Court on charges he and another man robbed a man at gunpoint in May 2008 at Kensington Avenue and Godfrey Street.

Prosecutors moved to dismiss the charges against McCaa last week, citing his death, and a judge granted the motion.

"The law requires us to do so when the defendant dies," Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III said.

Prosecutors were ready to press their case against him before he died.

McCaa also served more than two years in state prison for felony weapons possession in 2004. Officers investigating a call of shots fired spotted a bullet hole in the driver's side door of his car, pulled him over near Erie County Medical Center and found a loaded pistol.

• Demario L. Vass, 30, remains in critical condition in Erie County Medical Center with a gunshot wound to his head. Vass served five years' probation for a felony drug conviction in August 2001. He was also arrested on misdemeanor drug charges in January 2008 for allegedly having marijuana as well as packaging and scales. The disposition of that case was unknown.
• Shamar Davis, 30, served eight months in jail in 2004 after being convicted of felony attempted criminal possession of a weapon. Davis was caught with a 9mm gun during a New Year's Day 2003 traffic stop shortly after police responded to the former Sensationz nightclub for a 4 a.m. shooting. Records show Davis has steered clear of trouble since then, however, except for a minor brush with the law in April 2006.
• Shawn-Tia McNeil, who would be 28 today had she survived the attack, was sentenced to a conditional discharge for a 2002 misdemeanor assault. But, according to police records, she was arrested in November 2004 for an alleged felony assault with a baseball bat. The disposition of that case was not known.

Court records showed Danyell Mackin, who was laid to rest Thursday, was without a criminal conviction. Mackin, who'd be 31 on Monday, was the Buffalo native who moved to Austin, Texas, in 2006, and returned home as the guest of honor at one of the apparent parties being hosted at City Grill on Aug. 14. He was in town with his wife, Tanisha, to celebrate their first wedding anniversary and the subsequent baptism of their 7-month-old daughter, Destinee.

Association hikes risk

Downes of Hilbert College says her assessment, based on what she's read of the massacre, seems to indicate the victims were not specifically targeted but likely shot in a random spate of violence.

Still, she points out "simply associating with those who are individuals in criminal activity increases your risk for any type of victimization."

But, Daniels, Pointer and victims' family members say making such a suggestion is neither fair nor in good taste, days after loved ones were laid to rest.

"That's a huge leap," says Pointer, the pastor of Agape Fellowship Baptist Church on Sycamore Street and coordinator of parent and community services at Enterprise Charter School, where he came to know Vass and his 6-year-old son, Demario, now a first-grader.

"I saw (Vass) being involved as any parent is with his kindergartner," said Pointer, who visited with Vass at the school's family nights and parent conferences and witnessed the love he had for his son.

"When he would walk up to you, he would size you up and flash this big smile and ask how you were doing. I didn't see someone in a criminal lifestyle."

Likewise was the sentiment of Rondelle Stone, a friend of Wilhite's, who attended Friday's funeral and said her friend grew a lot spiritually over the last year.

"I'm grieving, of course, but I'm glad Tiffany was able to get her life together with God," Stone said. "For the last year, that's what she was doing ... trying to get right with God. She didn't deserve this."

Daniels went on to call the mention of the victims' prior criminal records "a low blow" and "a disrespect to the families."

"It has no place in what we're talking about now -- which is catching this killer," he said.

Police have, to this point, found that elusive.

In a prepared public statement Friday by Dennis J. Richards, chief of detectives, authorities continued to plead with the public -- specifically the more than 100 people at or around City Grill who may have witnessed the carnage -- to "come forward" and make statements to "identify the perpetrators."

Anyone with information is encouraged to contact Buffalo Police on the department's confidential tip line at 847-2255.

News Staff Reporter Dan Herbeck contributed to this report.

tpignataro@buffnews.com and plakamp@buffnews.comnull