By Rick Pfeiffer
Niagara Gazette
NIAGARA FALLS —
Falls police say a city street gang leader has dodged death for the second time in two months.
The search for a suspect in the late-night shooting outside the Elks Club, in the 3200 block of Highland Avenue, on Wednesday also is being hampered by the victim’s refusal to cooperate with investigators.
Investigators said Willie McTyere, 28, was grazed above his left eye by a gunshot but wouldn’t tell officers much about what had happened to him.
“Mr. McTyere said he was sitting in his car, minding his own business, when he heard a shot and a bullet hit his window and came through the windshield and hit him above the left eye,” Falls Police Detective Capt. William Thomson said. “He barely cooperated with us.”
McTyere was taken to Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center, where he was reportedly abusive to the medical staff as they treated him.
“He had to be told to stop his behavior or he would be arrested,” Thomson said.
After he was treated and a bandage was applied to his wound, McTyere reportedly left the medical center after telling police, “(Expletive) ya all (expletive).”
McTyere is no stranger to police and his shooting is believed to be linked to an on-going turf war involving several violent street gangs.
He was the target of a gunman on Jan. 23 outside JoJo’s Smoke House in the 1400 block of Main Street. In that incident, McTyere again escaped serious injury when a bullet grazed his skull.
Investigators believe McTyere may have known his attacker, but he refused to tell police anything about the incident.
“He would not return our phone calls (after the shooting),” Thomson said, “nor would he answer his door when we went to his home.”
Street sources say McTyere is a member of the Hollywood Gs street gang and has a lengthy arrest record, including drug and other charges.
While detectives were working on the McTyere shooting, another Falls man was shot as he and a friend were driving on Highland Avenue near Centre Avenue at 2:30 p.m. Thursday.
Rodriguez Burton, 20, told police he and another man were driving in the 2500 block of Highland Avenue and as they turned on to Centre Avenue the car they were in was “hit with multiple gunshots.” Burton was hit in the chest, near his shoulder.
He told investigators he dove into the back seat of the car and was driven to Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center by his friend. He was treated for his wounds at Memorial and then transferred to the Erie County Medical Center.
The car involved in the shooting was recovered a short time later in the 500 block of 10th Street with two bullet holes in the windshield.
