Riccardo M. McCray was arrested twice previously in the past year on felony weapons charges.

In May 2009, he was changing a flat tire when police stopped and noticed his car riddled with bullet holes. Officers found in the front seat a loaded Bushmaster rifle, with six rounds in the magazine and one in the chamber. McCray was charged with criminal possession of a weapon.

And in April this year, McCray was arrested on felony drug and weapons charges. The drug count, an "A" felony, could put him away for life if he's convicted.

After his April arrest on the weapons and drug charges, though, McCray spent just four days behind bars, before he was released "on his own recognizance" as the case headed to a grand jury, according to Erie County Holding Center records. It is not clear what happened after the first arrest in 2009.

Riccardo M. McCray's godmother says he's a slow learner who tried his hand at auto mechanics at a local high school before dropping out. She also says he's the doting father of a one-year-old son.

His friends say he is someone who is prepared to defend himself if he ever felt threatened. Relatives insist he's a good person.

McCray's father, Riccardo R. McCray, was no stranger to the law. He was convicted of second-degree manslaughter in 1972. And in 1978, he was convicted of grand larceny, and in 1984, he did time again for attempted robbery.

Riccardo R. McCray died several years ago, according to Ruth Turner, a family friend and godmother to the young man now being held in the Holding Center on four murder counts.

The younger McCray was living with his girlfriend, the mother of his son, until recently when they had a fight and he moved out, according to Turner.

"He told me him and his girlfriend don't get along much and could he stay upstairs for a while. I told him he could, but he'd have to pay rent," said Turner, who lives on East Ferry Street.

When McCray explained that he was planning to get a job, she agreed to let him live in the apartment so long as he performed repairs to earn his keep. "He was going to rip out the carpet in a bedroom and paint the apartment," she said. "When he was in school, he was a special education student, you could say. He'd get suspended a lot for wandering the halls of the schools and looking in classrooms. I believe he never quite graduated high school."

But Turner said the apartment arrangement never happened. "I'd told him when I get some keys made for the apartment I'd let him know. I never did get the keys made," she said.

Two days after the Aug. 14 killings at City Grill, she was surprised to find out he had told others he was living at her address.

"The police showed up, and I told them him he never lived here and you're welcome to go upstairs and look. They did go up and look. The police said they needed to get in touch with him. They wanted to question him, but they never told me why," Turner recalled.

She did not know until Wednesday he was believed to be responsible for the City Grill killings.

Friends of McCray from the Ferry-Grider Homes public housing project, where McCray's mother, Carolyn T. McCray, lives with her younger son, offered a different perspective on the accusations that he is the City Grill shooter.

"I feel bad for the people who were shot. I have sympathy for their families, but everybody has a reason for what they do. Something had to cause that [shooting to happen]," said a 22-year-old resident who would only identify himself as "Coogi."

"Nobody gets shot for nothing," he said. "You don't know if they threatened to kill him. We don't know what really happened in that bar. I hate it when they say there is no reason for murder. There's always a reason."

Another young man, who asked that he be only identified by his nickname, "Ruger-Hella-Rella" -- a nod to the handgun brand known as Ruger -- offered praise for McCray.

"That's my man. I don't know if he did it, but I hope he beats it," the young man said.

Asked if McCray belonged to a gang, Coogi declined to comment, explaining most young people in their circumstances are members of a group they've grown up with.

"I don't want this shooting being distracted with gangs. I want the real reason for it," Coogi said.

As for McCray's relatives, they declined to comment.

"There's a lot of good things we could say about him, but right now we aren't speaking," said his aunt, requesting privacy.

When McCray was arrested in April, five others were also charged, according to Erie County Court officials. Police said they found a loaded weapon and a quantity of narcotics that the men intended to sell.

One of them was Steven A. Talley, 24, a man labeled a person of interest in the City Grill shootings and later picked up by police. He is being held on other charges.

Another of those five men was also picked up for questioning in the City Grill shootings but later released. Both were believed to have been at the party at the City Grill.

* Video: Evening news conference/surrender details -- Chief of detectives discusses surrender -- News editor on CNN about Sunday story

* Audio: Full evening news conference -- Community activist Darnell Jackson on surrender -- Jackson on why individual chose him -- Channel 4 GM Chris Musial

* BuffaloNews.com Live: Review Wednesday night's news conference at police headquarters

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