BUFFALO — An Erie County jury on Friday found Richard J. Walls not guilty of murder and manslaughter in the October 2024 shooting death of Md Rawnaq Ratin, a 20-year-old shot during an argument over parking on Cedar Road in Cheektowaga, WGRZ reported.
The verdict, reached after four days of deliberations, accepts the Cheektowaga homeowner’s claim that he fired in self-defense. Walls, a licensed gun owner, was acquitted of second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter, The Buffalo News reported. The killing had prompted prayers and protests in the neighborhood, and Ratin’s family has said he was unarmed.
