Third Niagara Falls, NY shooting suspect caught in Amherst

Third Falls shooting suspect caught in Amherst
By Rick Pfeiffer
Niagara Gazette

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Police take Jacob Taggart into custody after a standoff in Amherst Tuesday. Taggart is a suspect in a recent Falls shooting.


AMHERST — The final suspect in a South End shooting was taken into custody Tuesday after a brief stand-off with Town of Amherst Police.


Acting on what they said was a tip, Amherst cops converged on a Niagara Falls Boulevard motel and arrested Jacob Jeffrey Taggart. He was taken into custody at gunpoint outside the Boulevard Inn where he had reportedly been holed up with his girlfriend.

Officers surrounded the motel, just before noon, and after the girlfriend left the room, they called for Taggart to come out. The shooting suspect surrendered without incident.

In the search for Taggart, Falls police had advised law enforcement agencies that he should be "considered armed and dangerous."

"He came out, there was no incident, there was no resistance," said Amherst Police Capt. Michael Camilleri.

On Sunday night, police picked up a second suspect in the April 25 shooting at 12th and Niagara streets. Paul E. Buck was taken into custody, without incident, in the area of 24th Street and Whitney Avenue.

The shooting left a Falls teen with gunshot wounds to his arm and chest. Detectives said Taggart, Buck and Marlyn Rubin were all involved in the hail of gunfire at the South End intersection.

Witnesses told detectives a dark-colored car, with three men inside, rolled up on a group of young men who were gathered on the street corner. The suspects in the car then reportedly tried to start a fight with the men who were on the corner.

As yelling between the men in the car and the men on the corner escalated, two of the suspects in the car brandished handguns. As the men on the corner began to run away, the armed suspects began firing at them.

Detectives said Anthony McDougald, 18, was shot in the left arm near his bicep. The bullet then went through the arm and entered his chest.

McDougald was taken to Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center and then transferred to the Erie County Medical Center. He is expected to recover from his wounds.

Rubin, 19, who was arrested the day after the shooting, Buck, 20, and Taggart, 23, have each been charged with first-degree assault and first-degree reckless endangerment.