Police view UB student as innocent homicide victim
What seemed like a minor dispute inside a Main Street restaurant might have triggered the shooting death of recent University at Buffalo graduate Javon R. Jackson, described by authorities Monday as a highly motivated student who was a totally innocent victim.
Homicide investigators say they have found no evidence in Jackson’s past that could have served as a motive for the shooting early Sunday morning, just hours after he received his degree in electrical engineering.
“I honestly believe this is a completely innocent victim of a senseless act of violence . . . that ended this young man’s bright future,” Deputy Police Commissioner Daniel Derenda said.
Investigators believe that the shooting might have been sparked by an incident that occurred just minutes before.
Buffalo homicide detectives, who have been working the case round-the-clock, have focused part of their investigation on the dispute that apparently broke out in the Sangria Lounge, on Main Street between Lisbon and Highgate avenues, police said.
While detectives have heard various accounts of such a dispute, one report suggested that Jackson might have been standing up for a young woman who was being picked on by others, according to law enforcement sources.
If true, that wouldn’t surprise Jackson’s landlady of three years, Celeste Mondal, who wept Monday as she described her late teant on Lisbon Avenue.
“Even with his roommates, he was the peacemaker, the mediator,” she said. “He was terrific. A perfect student, a perfect tenant. He was a terrific kid.”
Lex Greason, owner of the Sangria Lounge and the adjoining Havana House, was working that night and into the morning, and he noticed no such disturbance.
“I have a zero tolerance for any kind of trouble, not even raising voices,” Greason said Monday. “I didn’t see any altercations. If I did, I would have been the first to say, ‘You have to leave.’ I take a lot of pride in my business.”
A strong student, Jackson graduated from the Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics, a New York City high school that offers advanced courses and specializes in those two academic disciplines.
“Every time I would go over to the apartment, he would be at the kitchen table, into the books,” Mondal said. “He told me once, ‘Celeste, I’m going to try for a 4.0 average.’ And he got a 3.8.”
Jackson, 23, of the Bronx, received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering Saturday afternoon and had been out with friends when he was fatally shot at about 3:15 a. m. Sunday while crossing Main Street between Lisbon and Highgate.
Witnesses to the shooting, though nervous at what they saw, have come forward, providing detectives with leads.
The shooter was with three other people, so police know there were eyewitnesses. Even at about 3 a. m., the area near UB’s South Campus was filled with students celebrating the weekend graduation and the end of the spring semester.
The killing took place less than a block from Main and Highgate, apparently in view of one of the dozens of police surveillance cameras in the city. After reviewing the recorded video, police Monday said the cameras captured some images pertaining to the homicide.
“The cameras will be useful,” police spokesman Michael J. DeGeorge said, adding that he can’t elaborate because the images involve evidence.
Police continue to ask anyone with information about the killing to call their confidential tip line at 847-2255.
“I really hope the police get these murderers,” said Greason, the restaurant manager. “C’mon, what are they? They’re murderers. They killed a nice young man.”
Meanwhile, a devastated family still is coping with the loss of a loved one, on a weekend that initially brought so much pride to the family.
“This was supposed to be my Mother’s Day gift to me, that my son finally finished his course studies,” Jackson’s mother, Theresa Williams, told WKBW-TV on Sunday. “And I was so proud of him.”
As Derenda said, “The family came here for a graduation. And now it’s turned into a funeral.”
lmichel@buffnews.com and gwarner@buffnews.com
Log into MyBuffalo to post a comment
MyBuffalo is the new social network from Buffalo.com. Your MyBuffalo account lets you comment on and rate stories at buffalonews.com. You can also head over to mybuffalo.com to share your blog posts, stories, photos, and videos with the community. Join now or learn more.
Reader comments