A new indictment links two attacks on Willraw Morrison to testimony he was expected to give in a murder prosecution.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — A Buffalo witness who prosecutors say was targeted to keep him from testifying survived a shooting in September 2024 before he was killed about six months later, a sequence now at the center of a new five-defendant conspiracy case.
Willraw T. Morrison, 23, was expected to testify in a criminal case against Lamarrio A. Clark when he was killed on March 19, 2025, according to the Erie County District Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors allege Morrison’s death was intended to prevent that testimony. Four people, including Clark, now face first-degree murder and conspiracy charges, while a fifth defendant faces a conspiracy charge.
The allegations describe two attacks separated by more than six months. On Sept. 12, 2024, Morrison was shot multiple times on Ashley Street in Buffalo and survived. Prosecutors accuse Dayshawn J. Brazier, 35, of hiring another person to carry out that attack with the intent to kill Morrison. Brazier has been charged with attempted first-degree murder in connection with the shooting.
Morrison was attacked again on March 19, 2025. Police were called to the first block of Krupp Street at about 1:30 p.m. after a shooting. Morrison was taken to Erie County Medical Center, where he died. Prosecutors now allege his killing was part of a broader conspiracy involving Clark, Brazier, James S. Barnwell, Angela Bowser and Amos J. Murray.
Clark, 29; Brazier; Barnwell, 27; and Bowser, 25, are charged with first-degree murder and second-degree conspiracy. Murray, 24, is charged with second-degree conspiracy. The district attorney’s office has not publicly laid out the specific alleged conduct of each defendant in the conspiracy beyond the accusation that Brazier arranged the earlier shooting.
The reason Morrison was considered a significant witness traces back to another Buffalo homicide. Clark was accused in the July 4, 2023, shooting death of 28-year-old Corbin J. Kinsey Sr. Police responded that afternoon to the first block of Warring Avenue near Genesee Street. Kinsey was taken to Erie County Medical Center, where he later died.
Clark was arrested and arraigned in March 2024 on second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon charges. Prosecutors accused him of intentionally shooting Kinsey with an illegal handgun. The case was later scheduled for a July 2025 trial, and prosecutors say Morrison was expected to testify against Clark.
That trial did not proceed to a verdict. Clark pleaded guilty on Aug. 20, 2025, to first-degree manslaughter in full satisfaction of the indictment in Kinsey’s death. On Oct. 1, 2025, he received a 25-year prison term followed by five years of post-release supervision.
The new indictment changes the legal focus from Kinsey’s killing to what prosecutors allege happened to a witness connected to that case. The prosecution will have to prove the new charges independently. The district attorney’s public announcement does not disclose the substance of Morrison’s expected testimony, the evidence allegedly linking every defendant to the fatal attack or whether investigators believe the September and March shootings involved the same person carrying out the violence.
The case also places the earlier shooting in a new context. Morrison survived that attack and remained a prospective witness, according to prosecutors. He was killed before the scheduled trial against Clark. Prosecutors allege the defendants acted together for the purpose of ensuring that Morrison could not take the witness stand.
All five defendants are being held without bail and are scheduled for a pretrial conference Dec. 11. The charges remain allegations, and Clark, Brazier, Barnwell, Bowser and Murray are presumed innocent of the new offenses unless proven guilty in court.
Author note: Last updated October 25, 2026.