In the early evening of July 14, 2018, a burst of gunfire shattered the peace at a gas station on the corner of Genesee Street and Crossman Avenue in Buffalo, New York. Inside a parked vehicle, 28-year-old Dion Donald, a Black male, was seated in the passenger seat when he was struck by multiple bullets. The sudden violence left him with fatal injuries.
He was rushed to Erie County Medical Center, but tragically, he could not be saved.
The investigation into the shooting led Buffalo Police to identify Montek Mastin as the man who pulled the trigger. Authorities determined that Mastin fired the shots that ended Donald's life. Another man, Jamal Young, was identified as the driver of the getaway vehicle, implicating him as an accomplice in the crime. Both men were subsequently arrested and faced legal proceedings for their roles in the homicide that cut a young man's life short.
After a trial that concluded in December 2019, a jury found Montek Mastin guilty of second-degree murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. He was later sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the murder. Jamal Young, the getaway driver, was acquitted of the murder charge but was convicted of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. He received a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison for his part in the events of that tragic day. The convictions brought a measure of closure to the violent death of Dion Donald, a life lost in a senseless act of gun violence.
