Buffalo man charged in Cheektowaga triple homicide, second killing same day

The day started with two separate scenes in Buffalo and Cheektowaga, then ended with four people dead and a 29-year-old man facing murder charges. Saleh Q. Mohamed was arraigned after prosecutors linked the killing of his wife, Aaisha Abdulla, 26, and their sons, ages 4 and 3, to a second fatal shooting that same day in Buffalo.

Cheektowaga police were called to the Ellen Drive home at about 3:30 p.m. on Monday, June 1, 2026, and found three victims dead inside: a 26-year-old woman and two boys ages 4 and 3. The Erie County District Attorney’s Office said the case was filed as one count of first-degree murder and three counts of second-degree murder, all Class A-I felonies, and officials said more charges could still be added.

The arraignment also clarified the earlier Buffalo shooting. Police said a man was shot around 2:30 p.m. at a store on the 1000 block of Grant Street near Military Road in Buffalo’s Black Rock neighborhood. The victim was identified as Shukri Muthana, 43, of Lackawanna, and he was reportedly working as a store clerk when he was killed.

Authorities have said Mohamed is believed to have been Abdulla’s husband and the father of the two children, a detail that turned the case into one of the most closely watched homicides in the Buffalo area this year. Buffalo Police Chief of Detectives Joseph Langdon said the presence of children made the scene especially difficult, and Erie County District Attorney Michael Keane publicly described Mohamed as one of the worst offenders he had seen.

By June 5, investigators were still saying they had not determined a motive, even as police and prosecutors continued to piece together the chain of events across both cities. Mohamed remains the central figure in a case that moved from a Buffalo store to a Cheektowaga home in the span of a single afternoon, with the full sequence still being sorted out in court.