Amherst Police seize guns of town employee who allegedly made mass shooting threat to coworker

AMHERST, N.Y. (WIVB) — Amherst Police confiscated three guns from a town worker after he allegedly threatened to carry out a mass shooting, similar to the racist attack at Tops in Buffalo three years ago.

According to court documents obtained by WIVB News 4, a 24-year-old employee at the Amherst Wastewater Treatment Plant was witnessed by a colleague making comments about becoming a “minority” in relation to the amount of “Arab” people in the area, and that if that happened he would “have to go and do a shooting like they did at Tops.”

The employee in question was reportedly watching political videos online at the time when the comments were made, according to court documents.

The order to seize the firearms, a Temporary Extreme Risk Protection Order, comes as a result of New York’s red flag law, allowing a judge to approve the removal of guns from a person who may be dangerous to themselves or others.

“If there’s probable cause to determine that this person has made threats to someone else or is a threat to themselves, then that law enforcement agency goes into New York State Supreme Court and makes an application for a temporary order to remove someone’s weapons,” explained John Flynn, a former Erie County District Attorney.

The town employee had three guns seized, a rifle and two shotguns, which police say he consented to turning over for safe keeping, according to court documents, but would not allow law enforcement to search his bedroom or house for any other weapons.

Flynn, who’s dealt with these types of cases for years as a former district attorney, tells News 4 that these cases are by and large civil, and are investigated extensively by police.

“Some judges won’t take only a verbal statement like that, they’ll want a little more evidence that the person actually does own weapons,” Flynn explained. “Have you seen them? Where are they located at? Is there a storage place for them? So, you’ve got to do a little bit of investigation to actually determine if in fact the person does own weapons or if they were like I said, having a bad day.”

The comments made by the man have upset some members of the Muslim faith, including Dr. Sabeel Ahmed, director of the GainPeace Project, an Islamic outreach initiative with ties to Western New York.

“We need to condemn any violence, any threat, with the highest condemnation because a threat to any community is a threat to the whole society,” Dr. Ahmed said. “I am so thankful to the law enforcement that their timely process this threat, and they were able to mitigate from this becoming a mass shooting, so thanks a lot to every single law enforcement officer out there.”

Buffalo Common Councilwoman Zeneta Everhart, whose son was wounded three years ago at the Tops Supermarket on Jefferson Avenue, issued a statement on social media Thursday afternoon, condemning what was reported in the court documents.

“The thought that anyone would threaten to emulate this heinous attack is beyond disgusting,” Everhart wrote in the post. “I thank the authorities for quickly responding and seizing weapons from this individual to ensure the safety of our community.”

News 4 reached out to the Town of Amherst who said the individual has been suspended with pay, according to their union contract, and that town personnel are continuing to investigate.

We also reached out to Attorney General Letitia James, a strong proponent of the state’s red flag laws, who issued us the following statement, saying “keeping guns away from dangerous individuals is a common sense way to save New Yorkers’ lives.”