The man accused of fatally shooting four people and wounding four more outside City Grill insists he is no killer, his lawyer told The Buffalo News on Thursday.

"I never shot a real gun in my life," attorney Terrence D. McKelvey said his client, Riccardo M. McCray, told him. "It came across as very sincere."

McKelvey spoke to The News to offer his client's side of the story.

He emphasized that the fact McCray, 23, of East Ferry Street, turned himself in Wednesday at a Buffalo TV station is not in any way an admission of guilt.

"A lot of people think that he's guilty because he surrendered," McKelvey said. He said McCray was motivated to turn himself in because he knew police were looking for him.

A massive manhunt had been under way Tuesday night as police surrounded several locations where they thought McCray could be hiding.

"If they are looking for you, do you go into hiding?" McKelvey said. "You're going to say: What do you want me for?'"

Police say they are confident McCray is the gunman behind the mass slaying. "I'm very, very confident," Police Commissioner Daniel Derenda said Thursday. "I'm very confident we have the right man."

But McKelvey wondered how sure police can be, considering authorities arrested and charged another man just hours after the shooting before dismissing the charges.

"Police are saying they have video [of the shootings]," McKelvey said. "They are saying they have witnesses. If you've got good video, you wouldn't have picked up the wrong person the first time ... The video couldn't have been that great."

McKelvey acknowledged that McCray was at City Grill when the mayhem erupted. "He was there at the time of the shootings," the lawyer said.

McCray had been invited to a party in the Main Street restaurant by his friend Willie McCaa III, one of the four murder victims, McKelvey said. The party was one of at least two celebrations being held that night in City Grill.

"I believe he was not a party crasher," McKelvey said.

One scenario that circulated after the shootings was that the shooter had been denied entry into the restaurant and opened fire because he was angry.

McCray and McCaa had been friends since they attended Burgard High School, McKelvey added. The suggestion that McCray would harm his high school friend "kind of totally baffles me," McKelvey said. While McCray has a criminal record, McKelvey said it's not as extensive as his arrest record would suggest.

"Arrests are not convictions," he said. He said police sometimes arrest people familiar to them to try to gather information on other issues.

McCray has convictions on his record, he said, but "it's nothing like what the impression we got from the other articles."

McKelvey described McCray as "easy talking" and "reserved."

"You'd never identify him as a crazy killer," he said.

The lawyer said he has "no evidence that he's a member of any gang."

He said McCray has worked at a factory and for a nonprofit, is the father of a 1-year-old son, and his grandmother is a pastor of a local church.

A stone-faced McCray stood before a judge Thursday morning in City Court for his arraignment on four charges of second-degree murder in the City Grill killings. His attorney entered fourpleas of not guilty on his behalf, and McCray was denied bail. Security was unusually heavy inside the courtroom, which was packed with relatives of the slain as well as supporters of McCray.

Dozens of people eager to witness the arraignment were still being checked for weapons on the first floor of the City Court Building at 50 Delaware Ave., and several dozen more stood outside the building as the arraignment was swiftly completed in a second-floor courtroom at about 9:30 a.m. The case was handled by Williamsville Justice Jeffrey F. Voelk, acting as a City Court judge.

The next step for McCray and his attorney is to determine whether McCray will testify before the grand jury expected to convene in the next couple of weeks. McKelvey also is asking for funds from the courts to cover the costs of the defense investigation. "What we want to do is to ensure there is a level playing field here," he said.

Later, Steven "Red" Talley, whom law enforcement also has labeled a "person of interest" in the City Grill shootings, appeared before City Judge Betty Calvo-Torres.

Talley was in court Thursday on unrelated charges from a traffic stop just hours before the Aug. 14 massacre.

He has not been charged in the mass shootings, and there are no indications he will be, said his attorney, Robert Cutting. He also would not say whether Talley had been at City Grill at the time of the shootings.

"If he were there ... it was not as an invited guest," Cutting said.

The attorney added that Talley was acquainted with some of the victims from his neighborhood but did not know them well.

Cutting also declined to comment on whether law enforcement authorities were questioning Talley about the shootings.

"I'm not going to talk about any ongoing negotiations with the district attorney's office," he said.

mbecker@buffnews.com; mgryta@buffnews.comnull