University Heights partying turns deadly
Lisbon stabbing takes life of Clarence man
Big and noisy parties are nothing new in the city's University Heights neighborhood, but the Halloween bash put on by some young men on Lisbon Avenue took a tragic turn that won't soon be forgotten.
The party at 112 Lisbon was so big that it spilled out into a parking lot across the street, and it was so noisy that Buffalo Police officers came by twice to break it up.
And when the festivities were over, a young man was dead — stabbed multiple times during an altercation with other partyers.
Jacob Herbert, 19, of Clarence, was killed at about 4:30 a.m. Saturday, and police publicly confirmed his identity Sunday.
"After officers twice broke up this party, people came back both times and started it up again," said Buffalo police spokesman Michael J. DeGeorge. "The victim was one of those who came back. He got into an altercation and was fatally stabbed."
At least 200 young people, possibly quite a few more, attended the party, police said. Homicide Squad detectives spent Sunday tracking down those who were there and trying to find out who stabbed Herbert.
Meanwhile, Herbert's family and friends grieved, turning up by the dozens Sunday evening to create a memorial at the death scene featuring pictures, candles, a white cross and other mementos.
"He was a good kid who had a great sense of humor, and loved people," said Herbert's grandfather, Timothy Sullivan of Cheektowaga. "He had some problems in the past, but in the past couple of years, he was turning his life around."
A graduate of Clarence High School who played football and wrestled for the school, Herbert loved sports and wanted to be a gym teacher, said his mother, Tracy Sullivan of Clarence. She said her son had been working at a Cheektowaga restaurant and had taken some courses at Erie Community College.
"The police told me that he came to this Halloween party and that somebody at the party hit a friend of his earlier in the night," Sullivan said. "My son was the type of kid who would come to the defense of his friend."
Neighbors in the 100 block of Lisbon lamented the problems they have seen caused by too many young people — many of them underage — having too much to drink.
"Why do kids have to do this to each other?" asked Roxie Harbison, 55, who lives near the party house. "We've seen huge parties in this neighborhood before, but nothing like this has ever happened. This is the worst I've ever seen. This kid was just 19 years old."
Harbison said that she did not witness the stabbing but that she saw emergency medical technicians trying to resuscitate Herbert on a sidewalk near Lisbon and Cordova avenues.
"They were pumping away at his chest, trying to save him." Harbison said. "But from the way the EMTs were acting, he was already gone."
Neighbors said the party was extremely loud and was so big that many of the partygoers went to a nearby school parking lot, where it became a tailgate party with people wearing Halloween costumes.
DeGeorge said police are not releasing details of what they believe led up to the stabbing, but he noted that a city surveillance camera at the intersection was working at the time and "is pretty good for a night video." He declined to say what police saw on the video.
Detectives are asking anyone who knows anything about the incident to contact the department's TIP-CALL line at 847-2255.
Police spoke with the young men who hosted the party late Friday night and early Saturday, and on two occasions told them to break up the party, DeGeorge said. Hours before the stabbing, police issued at least one summons to the hosts but did not arrest them, DeGeorge added.
DeGeorge said police "are looking at all aspects of what led up to this," including the possibility of underage drinking.
"We do not believe it was a college party or a fraternity party," DeGeorge said. "There apparently was a mix of people there."
According to city property records, a man named Dale Vernon bought the property for $47,500 in 2003. He could not be reached to comment Sunday night. Neighbors said Vernon does not live in the two-family dwelling.
A Buffalo News reporter who went to the house Sunday saw a young man pushing a trash tote up to a side door. Two mattresses were propped up in the driveway.
"I don't want to say anything," the young man said before going into the house.
Authorities said Herbert was prosecuted as a juvenile in connection with the May 2005 strangling of Antionette Larkin, 66, of Amherst, but his attorney said Herbert had no actual involvement in the woman's death.
Herbert was 14 at the time and was "hanging out" with several young people who went into Larkin's home and killed her, his attorney recalled late Sunday.
"He spent most of the time outside the house. He had no idea that this horrible crime was going to take place, and did not participate," said the attorney, Gary J. Wojtan.
"Others did go to prison. He cooperated completely with the police, and his case was resolved in Family Court."
Wojtan said he had heard Herbert had turned his life around since that incident and was sad to hear that his life ended in violence.
At about 5:15 p.m. Sunday, a convoy of cars from Clarence pulled up to the death scene on Lisbon. Herbert's mother, grandfather and other relatives and friends got out of the cars and began fashioning a memorial on the site where he died.
By 6:30, more than 70 people were there, including Herbert's father, Patrick Herbert of Holland; his brother, Patrick Herbert Jr.; and his aunt, Shelly Redd.
"He was a softhearted kid, and a lot of people cared for him," Redd said.
In recent years, police, University at Buffalo officials and neighborhood block clubs have been working together on crime problems associated with student housing in University Heights.
Students from nearby Highgate Avenue will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday with Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority police to begin the first student-led Neighborhood Watch training for residents.
The training will be held in the community room of St. Joseph-University Catholic Parish, 3269 Main St., and will be sponsored by the Phi Kamma Psi fraternity and the University Heights Collaborative.
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