It might seem Detective Sgt. Cedric Holloway and his six detectives have an advantage when they investigate another Buffalo shooting. No one dies in the cases they pursue.
After a wave of violence last summer and some outside advice, the Buffalo Police Department formed the new squad, the Gun Violence Unit, to focus exclusively on nonfatal shootings, the Buffalo News reports.
The squad started forming in mid-October. Holloway heads the unit, which includes six detectives: Natasha Anderson, Joseph Bonner, Marlin Hall, Melanie Janusz, Michael Strobele and Adam Wigdorski.
"Oddly enough, it should be easier [to investigated non-fatal shootings]," Holloway said.
But a huge whiteboard shows just how tough an undertaking the new unit faces. On a wall in the squad room, it lists the victims, times and locations of 33 city shootings since the end of October. Many of the cases are connected – retaliations for retaliations that can be traced back for years – but only one is solved.
The detectives try to connect the dots among the cases, and they try to prod reluctant victims and witnesses for help amid the sheer volume of cases that come their way.
