Prosecutors say Willraw Morrison was killed months before he was expected to testify against one of the defendants.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Five Buffalo residents have been indicted in an alleged conspiracy to kill a witness before he could testify in a pending murder case, with four defendants facing first-degree murder charges in the March 2025 death of 23-year-old Willraw T. Morrison.
Erie County prosecutors announced the indictment Oct. 22, saying Lamarrio A. Clark, 29; Dayshawn J. Brazier, 35; James S. Barnwell, 27; and Angela Bowser, 25, are each charged with first-degree murder and second-degree conspiracy. A fifth defendant, Amos J. Murray, 24, is charged with second-degree conspiracy. Prosecutors allege the group acted together to prevent Morrison from testifying in a criminal case against Clark.
The charges center on Morrison’s death on March 19, 2025. Buffalo police responded at about 1:30 p.m. to a shooting on the first block of Krupp Street. Morrison was taken by ambulance to Erie County Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. Authorities now allege his death was part of a conspiracy aimed at stopping his expected testimony in the case known as People v. Lamarrio Clark.
Morrison had been expected to testify when Clark’s case was scheduled for trial in July 2025, according to the Erie County District Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors have not publicly described Morrison’s expected testimony or detailed the alleged role of each defendant in the conspiracy. The indictment represents allegations, and the five defendants are presumed innocent of the new charges unless proven guilty in court.
The new case also includes an accusation that Morrison had been targeted before the fatal shooting. Prosecutors say Morrison was shot multiple times on Ashley Street in Buffalo on Sept. 12, 2024, but survived. Brazier faces an additional count of attempted first-degree murder in connection with that attack. Authorities accuse Brazier of hiring another person to shoot Morrison with the intent to kill him.
The criminal case in which Morrison was expected to testify stemmed from the July 4, 2023, killing of Corbin J. Kinsey Sr. Prosecutors said Clark shot the 28-year-old Kinsey with an illegal handgun on the first block of Warring Avenue near Genesee Street at about 5 p.m. Kinsey was taken to Erie County Medical Center and later died.
Clark was initially charged with second-degree murder and a weapons offense in Kinsey’s death. He later pleaded guilty on Aug. 20, 2025, to first-degree manslaughter in full satisfaction of that indictment. He was sentenced Oct. 1, 2025, to 25 years in prison followed by five years of post-release supervision, the maximum sentence available for that conviction.
The timing means Morrison was killed several months before the trial in which prosecutors say he was supposed to appear. Clark eventually entered his guilty plea after that scheduled trial date. The district attorney’s announcement did not say what evidence investigators believe connects each of the five defendants to Morrison’s killing beyond the conspiracy allegations and the separate accusation involving Brazier and the earlier shooting.
The investigation involved Buffalo police and the Erie County Sheriff’s Office. The case is being prosecuted by attorneys from the district attorney’s Major Crimes Bureau and Special Victims Unit. Authorities have not announced whether anyone else could face charges in connection with either attack on Morrison.
Clark, Brazier, Barnwell, Bowser and Murray were ordered held without bail. They are scheduled to return to court for a pretrial conference at 10:30 a.m. Dec. 11. No trial date in the new case has been announced.
Author note: Last updated October 25, 2026.