Buffalo, N.Y (WBEN) - An extensive investigation by Buffalo Police is underway into the murder of a 21-year-old male who was shot and killed inside Club Marcella early Sunday morning in downtown Buffalo.
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Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said two others were injured as well. "One suffered a very mild graze, and another individual was treated and released from the hospital," said the commissioner. "Our homicide investigators are diligently working, making progress on the case. We are working leads, we're moving in a positive direction. We're scouring through a lot of video."
Club Marcella has been known in the city for their security measures and the owners were very forthcoming with the police regarding the surveillance footage. "When they opened that club, they were working in conjunction with our district on security improvements," said Commissioner Gramaglia. "They have a significant amount of security officers that work both armed on the outside, unarmed on the inside, they have a significant camera system, video surveillance system throughout, they have other types of security measures and camera systems inside that I'm not aware of anybody else having."
This is not the first shooting to occur near the club this year, a security guard was shot just over two weeks ago. Metal detectors were installed prior to these events.
Buffalo Common Councilman Mitch Nowakowski, who represents the district in which Club Marcella is located, says he has been in contact with the owners. They believe the suspect got through the metal detectors initially without the gun.
"There are metal detectors, as you enter the club, and you do get patted down," said Councilman Nowakowski. "The gunman did not bring the weapon in from the front of the club. But I was told that there was another way around the perimeter, either through a patio or a fence, that the gunman was able to somehow either get or retrieve or be given a weapon. That's just what was verbally told to me by the owners."
Commissioner Gramaglia says they have "a pretty good idea" as to how the gun got past security and that there was some type of altercation between the suspect and the victim.
"Our investigation right now does not suggest that this was targeted against the club," said Commissioner Gramaglia. "It was targeted against an individual based on an altercation that occurred inside. I'm not going to get into the specifics of ... what we what we believe on how the gun got inside the club."
It would appear the City of Buffalo has no immediate plans of shutting down this club, previous shutdowns of establishments in the past has been a result of non-cooperation. "One thing that I will say about Club Marcella is that ... the owners have always been very cooperative," said Commissioner Gramaglia.
The club currently remains closed, it will open next Thursday, Feb. 16th at 10 p.m.
Councilman Nowakowski believes a review should be conducted. "The city needs to conduct a thorough review and figure out where the breakdown in security is happening and why there's an element of people that are having weapons on them while around the facility." Nowakowski references the shooting that occurred at the club just over two weeks ago.
We reached out to the owners of the club for additional comment, they chose to decline our request for interview.