Courtroom testimony and records detail a chaotic June 2024 shooting on Domedion Avenue that left a 3-year-old dead and his sister wounded.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Erie County Court Judge Susan Eagan on Friday, Jan. 2, 2026, sentenced two teenagers for the fatal shooting of 3-year-old Ramone “Red” Carter in Buffalo’s Schiller Park neighborhood, imposing 15 years to life on Jahaan Taylor and a 15-year determinate term with five years post-release supervision on Elijah Mumford.
The case advanced through New York’s Youth Part, which handles serious charges against defendants under 18. Jurors last October returned guilty verdicts after a four-day trial, finding Taylor responsible for murder and attempted murder and Mumford guilty of manslaughter. Prosecutors said the children were unintended victims when shots were fired toward a group of young males. Friday’s sentences formalize the outcome and open the appeal window, while leaving one investigative gap: a second gun used that night was never recovered.
According to police and trial testimony summarized in court records, gunfire broke out around 9:30 p.m. on June 21, 2024, on Domedion Avenue near Genesee Street. Ramone, riding his tricycle, was struck in the back. His 7-year-old sister suffered a grazing wound and was treated at a children’s hospital. Officers rushed Ramone to Erie County Medical Center in a patrol vehicle, but he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival. Within minutes, patrol and plainclothes officers stopped two teens several blocks away whose clothing and shoes matched witness descriptions; one was carrying an illegal handgun.
Prosecutors said Taylor, then 14, fired toward a group of youths with the intent to kill, striking the children instead. Investigators determined two firearms were used; only one was recovered at arrest. After roughly five hours of deliberation in October 2025, jurors convicted Taylor of second-degree murder, attempted murder and weapons possession. They found Mumford, then 16, guilty of first-degree manslaughter. A post-trial motion led the court to dismiss a second-degree assault count against Mumford, but the manslaughter conviction stood for sentencing.
Families filled the benches Friday. “You are not the victims here,” Eagan said, rejecting defense pleas to focus on the teens’ ages. Ramone’s aunt, Kimberly Adams, told the court she was in the hospital room when the doctor declared the time of death as 9:51 p.m. His mother, Shakenya Griffin, said that even with the teens headed to prison, “they’re still living, and I don’t have my son.” An older sister, Shakira Campbell, said Ramone felt like her own child and “was gone too soon.” His grandmother, Julianna Anderson, remembered his smile and the pain of visiting a grave rather than a playground.
District Attorney Michael J. Keane credited swift police work and the surviving child’s testimony. The office cited Buffalo Police Officers Ashunti McClain, Michael Griffin, Jordan Wansart, Stanley Honrada and Peter Nguyen for their roles in lifesaving efforts and the quick apprehensions. Detectives said witness accounts and clothing descriptions were crucial early on, along with forensic testing of the recovered handgun. Prosecutors told the court that the second firearm remains missing, an unresolved piece of evidence that did not change the jury’s decisions.
The sentences reflect New York’s framework for juvenile and adolescent offenders: Taylor, convicted as a juvenile offender, received the statutory maximum of 15 years to life; Mumford’s manslaughter term is a determinate 15 years followed by five years of supervision. Both will remain in juvenile-designated custody until age 21 before transfer to adult prisons. Eagan’s remarks echoed earlier public statements by city leaders who denounced the shooting as emblematic of summer gun violence that has hit East Side neighborhoods. The case also underscored the role of the Youth Part in trying serious charges while allowing judges to weigh age, records and circumstances.
With sentencing entered, the next milestones are administrative: transfer to state facilities, docketing of any notices of appeal and preparation of transcripts. Defense attorneys indicated they would review trial rulings for potential challenges. Prosecutors said no additional defendants are pending. Community members on Domedion Avenue have kept a small memorial near the curb where neighbors placed stuffed animals in the days after the shooting, a reminder of a summer night when a family celebration turned into a crime scene.
As of late Friday, both defendants remained in county custody awaiting transport. The district attorney’s office said the case is closed at the trial level, subject to appeal. Relatives said they plan a private remembrance near what would have been Ramone’s fourth birthday earlier that summer, a date many of them still mark quietly.
Author note: Last updated January 4, 2026.