By Jay Tokasz
The Buffalo News, N.Y.
AMHERST, N.Y. — Two Amherst police officers who shot and wounded a man on Saturday have been cleared of any wrongdoing, Erie County District Attorney Michael J. Keane said on Friday.
The attorney for an Amherst Police lieutenant said the lieutenant shot and wounded a criminal suspect over the weekend because the suspect had stabbed a fellow officer and was acting in a violent manner.
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The man who was shot, Rayquell M. Grant, 26, of Buffalo, was arraigned Friday on one count of first-degree attempted murder, one count of first-degree attempted assault and one count of second-degree assault.
Grant was arraigned before Erie County Judge James Bargnesi at Erie County Medical Center, where he remains hospitalized.
Officers shot Grant after he charged out of a home in the 4800 block of North Bailey with two knives and attacked one of the officers. The officers were responding to a 911 call for a domestic-violence complaint at the home around 4:55 p.m.
“My office conducted a thorough review of the officer-involved shooting. We have determined that the actions of the police officers were justified. The members of the Amherst Police Department who fired the shots that resulted in injuries to the defendant have been cleared of any criminal wrongdoing,” Keane said in a news release Friday.
Officer Aidan Vangelov was treated for two stab wounds to his arm, while Grant was taken by ambulance to ECMC.
Amherst police on Thursday released body camera video from the confrontation that showed Grant’s attack on Vangelov, followed by a total of five shots fired by Vangelov and Lt. Matthew Lobuglio.
Grant was struck in the side and the elbow.
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