Four people dead after shooting at restaurant

A SHOOTING outside a restaurant in downtown Buffalo yesterday left four people dead and four wounded. The victims were leaving a large party inside the City Grill bar and restaurant at about 2.30am when gunfire erupted, police and witnesses said.

Police were investigating witness reports that an argument may have broken out inside. Investigators did not know how many shooters there were.

"We're trying to sort all of that out," Homicide Chief Dennis Richards said. "We're checking to see if something precipitated this from inside."

Three victims were pronounced dead at the scene in the city's business district and a fourth died at a hospital. The dead included two men and two women, Richards said. Authorities did not release their identities.

Raymond Wilhite returned to the restaurant a few hours after the shooting and said his daughter Tiffany Wilhite, 32, was among the victims.

The wounded were all men. Spokesmen at Erie County Medical Center and Buffalo General Hospital confirmed some of the wounded were brought in but declined to release their conditions.

Tommy Dates, 35, of Buffalo, said he was at the bar area of the restaurant with his friends when he noticed a party had broken up. He said people started leaving the restaurant but rushed back inside a few minutes later.

"A lot of people were real upset, just trying to get out of the way," Dates said. "Everyone was in a panic."