On the evening of May 20, 2016, a brazen shooting shattered the typical dinner rush at the iconic Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York, leaving one of its employees, 32-year-old Freddie Dizon, dead. The male victim was working in the restaurant's kitchen when a gunman entered and opened fire, an act that police later described as a targeted attack. Another employee was grazed by a ricocheting bullet but was subsequently treated and released.
The incident prompted a significant police investigation into what was described as a brazen act in one of the city's most well-known establishments.
The investigation quickly zeroed in on two individuals who were known to law enforcement. Jorge Suarez, then 26, and Gregory Ramos, then 25, were identified as suspects almost immediately after the shooting. In October 2016, an Erie County grand jury indicted both men on charges of second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon. Prosecutors alleged that Suarez was the gunman who entered the kitchen and shot Dizon, while Ramos acted as the getaway driver. A potential motive emerged suggesting a history between Suarez and Dizon, which included an accusation by Dizon that Suarez had molested one of his children. This was seemingly corroborated by Dizon's final Facebook posts, made within an hour of the shooting, in which he expressed anger over his young son being inappropriately touched and stated the person responsible was 'gonna get what is coming to him.'
The legal proceedings against the two men moved forward, leading to convictions for both. In December 2017, following a nine-day trial that relied heavily on circumstantial evidence, a jury found Jorge Suarez guilty of second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon. He was subsequently sentenced to the maximum of 25 years to life in prison. Gregory Ramos was also found guilty of the same charges in May 2018 for his role as the accomplice who drove Suarez to and from the scene of the crime. He too faced a potential sentence of 25 years to life.
However, the legal saga for Gregory Ramos did not end with his conviction. In addition to his state sentence for the murder of Freddie Dizon, Ramos also faced federal charges related to drug trafficking and firearms possession stemming from a domestic dispute and a subsequent high-speed chase that occurred a day after the Anchor Bar shooting. In a later development, an appellate court overturned Ramos's murder conviction. The current status of his case following this appeal was not detailed in the available information.
