The Buffalo News reported last night that the semiautomatic pistol used to kill Paul Maue and Daniel “DJ” Szymanski in the early morning hours of September 6 was recovered last month. The weapon was found near Route 219 south of Buffalo. The gun was found during a search that began on September 19 and ended September 24. The Erie County Sheriff’s Office, New York State Police, Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are participating in the investigation.
Quoting a confidential police source, Dan Herbeck of the News reports, “The gun was found by a state trooper using a metal detector, and a police dog found some other evidence.”
The men were both shot in the back of the head after attending a party at the Kingsmen’s North Tonawanda chapter clubhouse. A witness said the shooting was preceded by “extremely loud arguing.” The same witness reported seeing “a bunch of people” running from the scene. Maue was a former president of the Buffalo chapter of the Kingsmen.
Ongoing Dispute
The News also reported that confidential sources, “believe the murders may be linked to ongoing disputes within the biker community. Those disputes include efforts by other biker clubs to recruit members to leave the Kingsmen and join other biker clubs.”
The September 6 murders was one of at least four repored incidents in what appears to be an attempted hostile patch over of the Kingsmen by another club.
On August 31, 2013 the Kingsmen’s Lockport clubhouse was damaged, a man sleeping inside was beaten with baseball bats and a motorcycle, several firearms, ammunition, beer, liquor and a cell phone were stolen.
In early August, Szymanski reportedly told a friend, “We had some problems down in Jamestown. Another club was trying to take over our Jamestown clubhouse.”
On August 24, an unnamed Kingsmen was attacked near the Niagara Falls Clubhouse and stripped of his colors. The man also reported that five rifles, a shotgun and two black powder rifles had been stolen from the clubhouse.