Double Homicide on Oliver Street
A Visit to the murder scene and a chat with some who were on the street the night it happened

NORTH TONAWANDA, N.Y.: As most readers probably know, last Saturday morning, shortly before 3 am, two men were shot to death on Oliver Street, between Schenck and Robinson streets.

A mixed commercial and residential street, Oliver, once a bustling street, is now in the steady throes of decline.

On this particular block, where the murders took place, there is a bar, a funeral home, a tattoo parlor, a pool hall, and old homes and vacant storefronts.

As for the dead, they were Paul Maue, 38, of Buffalo, and Daniel “DJ” Szymanski, 31, of Getzville.

They died in a backyard, next door to the Kingsmen Motorcycle Club at 322 Oliver St.

Both were allegedly members of the Kingsmen, but, according to members of the North Tonawanda Chapter, the two men were not members of the local chapter.

Murder victim D.J. Szymanski

 

The driveway between the Kingsmen Clubhouse (right) and the house where, in the backyard, two men were found dead in their car. Note the white flowers (left) are lilies in bloom, and their beautiful fragrance filled the night air, as murder was committed a few feet away.

 

Daytime shot of the Kingsmen clubhouse on Oliver St.

 

The two men died next door to the club, their bodies found in the front seat of a blue Chevy sedan, slumped over, blood soaking and flowing down the seats; their car parked on grass, beneath branches of what must be a 100-year-old maple tree; the bumper almost touching its giant trunk.

It is not clear if they were trying to escape and the tree halted them, or if they were parked and taken by surprise. Those may have been tire marks next to the tree; there was certainly a rut. Whether it was caused by the driver in the murder car, or caused at some other time by someone else, is not clear.

The shooting itself was reported to police at 2:58 a.m..

Police, called to the scene, discovered the men within minutes, behind the house next to the Kingsmen Clubhouse, in a Chevy, freshly killed, shot to death probably less than 20 minutes before. 

Some of the reports of what neighbors said seem to vary; some of them said there had been people on the back porch of the Kingsmen clubhouse, a two-story home with gray vinyl siding, earlier that evening.  The porch is in  back, next to a gravel parking lot and driveway. One said she heard some shouting back there. 

The old maple tree where the murder car was parked.

 

The driveway separates the clubhouse, and the neighbor's home and yard next door, with the maple tree, where the two men were found.

One neighbor said, after she heard gunshots, she saw people leave the scene on motorcycles.

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This writer arrived at the scene on Sunday evening. No one was around the outside of the Kingsmen Clubhouse. No one answered the door when I knocked; there were no cars or bikes parked in back or front. 

Nearby, two men were standing on the sidewalk.  I entered into conversation with them.

A: I'm not going to mention my name. But we were here outside when it happened. I was walking across the (funeral home's) parking lot (across the street), when I heard a couple shots go off. I thought it was fireworks. I was going to (urinate) behind a bush just beyond the lot. And when I heard the shots I turned and saw four people leave the yard of the clubhouse.

Reporter: What did they look like?

A: About my height, all average.

B: They were wearing grey hoodies.

A: Three of them had dark shirts and jeans; no skin showing, no shorts and the female had a gray hoodie.

R: There was a woman?

A: Yes. They were walking through the gravel parking lot (of the Kingsmen clubhouse).

R: Were they in a hurry?

A: Nope. I didn't see their faces. But there was nothing mismatched about them. They were average I'd say.

R: There was four of them?

A: Yes. If I was betting man, I would say those four  knew a lot about what was going on.

R: Did you tell this to the police.

A: I did.

B: I heard the shots. I didn't think nothing of it cause this is Oliver St.  We were standing in front of the house and then the cops rolled up hot and jumped out with automatic weapons. .

A: I think it was a drug deal, but I don't know.

B: The (victims) were trying to take off from that parking lot. They were trying to come out of the backyard in the car.

A: There is only one way in and one way out -- the driveway.

B: Obviously they were under duress. Between the two houses there is only one driveway. I believe they were trying to turn the wheel and was stopped at the tree. Obviously they were scared of something. From what I could see, when they were pulling the bodies out of the car, there was bunch of blood on the back of the headrest and running down the back where you sit against the seat.

R: You saw the police pull the bodies out?

B: Yeah. It was about three hours after it happened. Probably about five minutes after six. It was already daylight. The cops were struggling to get them out of the car.

R: When did you actually know there was a death?

B: Within minutes. We were out front. I heard a cop in front of the house say, 'yeah we got two dead.'

A. Within seconds (before the cops came) I saw four people come out of the middle yard where the driveway is. And they just walked down Oliver St.

 

In the dark night, a witness said, he saw four people walk up this driveway right after the shooting. One was a woman who seemed momentarily to need help walking.

 

Street scene right after the murder.

 

 

As we talked, the two men and I walked down the street and passed the house where, in the backyard, the men had died.

A man was standing outside on a small side porch.

I asked him about the murder.

My mother, he said, lives here. It happened at three o'clock in the morning. I'm sure it's pretty isolated. It happened in a car that was parked in my mother's backyard. Sure, my mom is kind of leery about it. That’s kind of natural.

After getting permission to go in his yard, we walked to the back and saw where the car had been parked.

R: What are the Kingsmen like?

B: I don't talk to them.

R: How many people come and go?

B: About 18 or 2O.

R: Where do they keep the bikes?

B: Right in front.

R: There are no bikes here tonight.

B: Yeah but there is usually at least eight bikes out there. Sometimes there is 20.

R: What did you think about the four people walking?

B: Maybe they came over with drugs. I never heard of the Kingsmen dealing (drugs). Although I sometimes smell pot when I walk by. The (deceased) passenger was wearing a purple basketball jersey. I was surprised when they said he was a Kingsmen. I mean, some dude was walking around with a basketball jersey; he was probably selling drugs.

A: I saw these guys and a girl come from the backyard right after the shots. They were helping the girl. She was either intoxicated or probably not feeling too well. But I didn't know anything then. I went to pee and I came back and they had come out between the two buildings. When I looked back, they were coming from the yard .

R: Did you know there was a gunshot?

A: I heard pop, pop. I thought it was fireworks. They were in the backyard, way back by the light on the back patio. I saw them coming toward the street and they were helping a female with a grey hoodie. I went toward a bush and when I was coming back, the police arrived.  They were here quick. But by that time, the four people were walking down Oliver. The police came out with their guns and went toward the yard. Those four were pretty far down the street. They just kept going down Oliver. 

R: Did you see their faces?

B: I didn't.

A: They came from the yard when I heard the shots. Although she was being helped right after the shots, when they walked down the street, she wasn't stumbling or nothing.

R: Did you have suspicions then?

A: No, not until the (police) lights came. They started walking before the lights came. By the time the police blocked off Robinson, they were already in front of the old, closed bars. They just walked away, no running. The police came with assault rifles and one truck blocked Robinson and one truck blocked …

B: But they didn't stop everyone. They just arrived and hadn’t even found the victims yet…

A: They just kept walking and once they got past old Brownies dairy, they just kept walking.

As I spoke to the two men, standing across the street facing the clubhouse, a woman passed by. I asked her if she knew anything about the events of last Saturday.

W: I seen it on the news. I only know that two of them are dead.

R: Do you live nearby?

W: Yeah. But I'm not saying where. There was a lot of killings around here. My girlfriend, her mentally retarded son got killed. Someone stuck a stick down his throat and killed him. I just recently came back here to live.

B: There is probably 30 unsolved murders since 1970.

W: I know a lot of these drug addicts.

R: Do you think these murders were because of a drug deal?

W: I can tell you a lot … there are drug d--… but I am not going to say anything because I am not going to get killed…. In Buffalo, a girl got shot in the vagina with a pistol. Would you believe it? She lived for four years and the next time they pinned her down. They took a screwdriver and jabbed her and slit her throat. I know a lot of this stuff. She was drug dealer, plus she squealed on the drug dealers, and that’s where you're going to get it.

B: That'll do it.

W: You don't tell nobody nothing. You want to tell anybody anything about drugs, you go down to the police station and you talk to them but don't give your name. You gotta keep your mouth shut.

After telling us a little about her late husband, her daughter and her son, the woman continued on her way walking down Oliver St.

A: If I was a betting man, I'd be 99 percent sure that what I saw was the people…. I saw four people walk down the street.

B: There were some other people, maybe six or 8, in the Kingsmen bar that also left.

A: When I walked back from the parking lot, and looked over my shoulder, I saw two guys on her left hand side and one had her in his arms, and they were walking her this way, coming down the driveway. The (clubhouse motion detector) light was shining towards their backs. I went and peed and when I came back they were walking down the street. That’s when the police lights started showing up. It was within two or three minutes.  Three of them had black tee shirts and jeans and the girl had dark jeans and a white tee shirt and a grey hoodie. 

B: I thought I saw they had grey hoodies on.

A: I know the girl, the female, when I saw her first she had a grey hoodie but it wasn’t zipped, but when she walked down the street, it was zipped up over her head.

R: You never saw them before?

A: No. And I didn't put it together when I first saw them coming out from behind the houses. Then I started to put it together when the police came.

 B: They already left when the cops pulled up.

A: I couldn't identify them.  I didn't even know where the bodies were then. The cops came out with rope. Then I had a bad feeling, but I didn't really know until later. I did tell the police everything I know.

B: I figured at first it was somebody's wife got caught with somebody.

A: It might have been drug related.

B This guy wasn't wearing a bikers outfit; he was wearing a jersey. I didn't see the other guy. They already had him out and zipping up the bag. Later, a couple of Kingsmen came (after the murder). It might have been the president and the enforcer or something.

I went toward the back of the Kingsmen clubhouse and observed cameras on every side; it was unclear, however, if they faced the yard where the murder apparently occurred.

After looking around at the scene of the death, a grim, fascinating scene, I came back to the street, walking the same path, up the driveway, with the clubhouse motion detector suddenly shining at my back, that the murderer or murderers likely walked or drove.

 I said goodbye to the two men I had been speaking with and then left.

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How much their observations were worth to the solving of this murder is unknown. Their comments, and that of the lady passerby, of what they saw, and felt, and how it related to their own lives was nevertheless of interest to me.

As of press time, no arrests have been made.  But, by the time you read this, the twin murders may be solved.

It is not easy to judge these matters or how to write about it.  

This is meant only to record in its place the observations of some who were affected by it, and what they saw or thought they saw.

The police are better able to determine the facts of this case. And are undoubtedly in possession of far more information than we are.

This article is merely intended to try to capture the mood of those who were bystanders of an event of grisly murder, that happened, after all, on the place, the street, they call home.

 

As of press time, the investigation is ongoing, and anyone with information about this incident should call the North Tonawanda Police at 693-8477.