Keith Agee, a 26-year-old Black man from Niagara Falls, New York, was known as a funny and good person who could light up a room. His life was cut short on a summer night in 2022 when he became a victim of gun violence in his hometown.
Around 11:15 p.m. on June 4, 2022, Agee was sitting in the passenger seat of a car on the 2400 block of LaSalle Avenue. An unknown shooter approached the vehicle and shot him in the head through an open window.
Agee was driven in a private vehicle to Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center, where he was stabilized before being transferred to the Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo. He died from his injury the following day.
Detectives with the Niagara Falls Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division began an intensive investigation. They determined the shooting was not a random act and searched the area around the crime scene, recovering at least one live bullet. The investigation quickly led them to a suspect, Gabriel Moyer, another resident of Niagara Falls. Five days after the shooting, members of a U.S. Marshals Task Force located Moyer at a motel in the nearby town of Amherst and took him into custody.
Moyer was indicted by a Niagara County grand jury on charges of murder, robbery, and criminal possession of a weapon. He pleaded not guilty and was held without bail. The case proceeded to trial in July 2024, but the proceedings ended in a mistrial after the jury deadlocked and could not reach a unanimous verdict. Prosecutors immediately stated their intention to retry the case.
Before a second trial could begin, a resolution was reached. On April 21, 2026, Moyer, then 24, pleaded guilty to a charge of first-degree manslaughter, admitting in court that he had shot and killed Keith Agee. On June 29, 2026, a Niagara County Court judge sentenced Moyer to 22 years in prison. Following the sentencing, District Attorney Brian D. Seaman remarked, “The court’s sentence today brings a four-year legal ordeal for Mr. Agee’s family to a close.” The case was officially closed as of July 2026.
