BUFFALO
Victim found in burning car had been shot and stabbed
Published: October 29, 2009, 12:30 am
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A Buffalo man whose body was discovered by Buffalo firefighters early Wednesday in a burning car on the city’s far East Side had been shot and stabbed, Buffalo police said.
Shawn Wilson, 34, also had been the victim of gunplay in Amherst last month, Amherst police officials reported.
Authorities on Wednesday night were still piecing together details leading up Wilson’s death.
Wilson’s body was found in the back seat of a Ford Taurus after firefighters were called at about 2 a. m. to extinguish the car fire in the 100 block of Roma Street.
An autopsy conducted Wednesday showed Wilson had been shot and stabbed “repeatedly,” according to Dennis J. Richards, chief of detectives.
“Our investigation is trying to determine what his last movements were, where he might have been and who he might have been with,” Richards said.
Wilson, who is the 49th homicide victim in Buffalo in 2009, survived being shot Sept. 19 on Allenhurst Road in Amherst. Wilson was found shot several times when Amherst police responded to a report at 1:20 a. m. of shots fired in the 500 block of Allenhurst.
It is unclear whether that incident was related to his killing Wednesday.
“It’s under investigation,” said Amherst Capt. Stephen J. McGonagle. “The Amherst Police Department is working with the Buffalo Police Department and the Erie County district attorney’s office.”
Wilson, whose last known address was listed as Dodge Street, was apparently targeted by his assailants, but it remained unclear when that happened as well as whether he was shot and stabbed in the car, on Roma Street or whether his body was taken there and the car was set ablaze. Police offered few other clues about the murder.
Wilson was known to law enforcement. According to records, he served two stints in state prison, most recently involving a case in 2000 in which he was convicted of felony reckless endangerment, weapons possession and criminal contempt. He was released on parole in December 2007.
tpignataro@buffnews.com
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