Raymond Floyd Pattersonn III, a kind and pleasant 14-year-old boy known to friends and family as Ray, was a student with his whole life ahead of him. He was a seventh-grader at the Buffalo Elementary School of Technology #6 in Buffalo, New York, and took pride in his name, loving to tell people he was "Ray the III." His life, full of potential and promise, was tragically and senselessly cut short on a summer afternoon in 2014.
The afternoon of Tuesday, August 12, 2014, turned chaotic and violent on a pedestrian footbridge near Oakmont Avenue. The bridge, which crosses the Kensington Expressway and connects to the Langfield Homes housing project, became a scene of terror. A crowd of young people had gathered to watch a fight between two teenage girls. The dispute escalated dramatically when a man, later identified as 28-year-old Joseph Gant, pulled out a handgun and fired numerous shots indiscriminately into the crowd of onlookers.
Ray and three of his friends were caught in the gunfire. According to police, they were innocent bystanders who had nothing to do with the initial altercation. While the other three teens—ages 13, 13, and 16—suffered non-life-threatening injuries, Ray was gravely wounded. As he tried to flee the chaos, he was shot in the back, arm, and leg. He collapsed on the footbridge and died at the scene, a place where moments before he had been simply watching the neighborhood drama unfold.
The Buffalo Police Department launched an immediate and intensive investigation into the quadruple shooting. Detectives found a community that was not only hurt by the violence but also angry. This anger translated into significant cooperation with the police. Mayor Byron Brown later stated, "The community was hurt, the community was angry, and people responded... people did step up, people did speak up, and that's why we have this arrest today." This public assistance was crucial for investigators, who were initially looking for a male suspect in his 20s.
Just two days after the shooting, on August 14, 2014, police arrested Joseph Gant. He was charged with second-degree murder for Ray's death and three counts of first-degree assault for the injuries to the other teenagers. At his arraignment, Gant pleaded not guilty and was held without bail. The interim superintendent of Buffalo schools, Donald Ogilvie, issued a statement expressing his "great sorrow" and noted that counselors would be available for students and staff affected by the tragedy. He lamented, "Raymond's life was cut short, and it is painful."
In June 2015, after a two-week trial, a jury found Joseph Gant guilty of second-degree murder, three counts of attempted murder, and criminal possession of a weapon. A key piece of evidence presented by the prosecution was cell phone video from the initial fight that helped witnesses identify Gant as the shooter. On August 12, 2015, exactly one year after he killed Ray Pattersonn, Gant, then 29, was sentenced. Before the sentence was handed down, Gant made a brief statement apologizing to the victims' families. Erie County Court Judge Michael D'Amico sentenced him to 35 years to life in prison. Gant later appealed his conviction, but in December 2020, the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, unanimously affirmed the judgment.
The senseless murder of a 14-year-old boy sent shockwaves through the Buffalo community. In the immediate aftermath, neighbors gathered in the rain, searching for peace and answers. One resident, Murray Holman, poignantly remarked to a reporter, "Go home and look at your own children and think that could have been my kid." The case stands as a tragic example of how a conflict can escalate with devastating consequences, ending the life of a child who was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Joseph Gant remains incarcerated, serving his sentence for the murder of Ray Pattersonn III.
