The legal chapter has closed for the man whose attempt to storm a West Side medical clinic with an AR-15-style rifle was thwarted by a courageous unarmed security guard.
Jeremy A. Griffin, 49, of Williamsville, was sentenced to 10 years in prison followed by five years of post-release supervision. The sentencing, handed down by Erie County Court Judge Kenneth Case, follows Griffin’s guilty plea to several felony charges stemming from a violent November 2022 rampage.
The sentence accounts for a dual-pronged attack that terrorized the Buffalo community. On the morning of November 10, 2022, Griffin first went to an apartment building on Pennsylvania Street where he shot a woman—a stranger to him—in the leg. When she managed to flee into her apartment, Griffin fired multiple rounds through her door in a failed attempt to get inside.
Minutes later, Griffin drove to the Alba de Vida substance abuse clinic. Surveillance footage that went viral globally showed Griffin entering the lobby and immediately firing a shot into the wall.
The tragedy was averted only by the split-second reaction of security guard Reynaldo Beckford. Despite being unarmed and having his back turned when Griffin entered, Beckford lunged at the gunman, pinning him against the wall and wrestling for control of the rifle.
During the struggle, the weapon discharged twice more, but Beckford—joined by a second guard and a janitor—successfully dragged Griffin out of the building and held him until Buffalo Police arrived.
“I didn’t have time to think, I just had to act,” Beckford said during the proceedings. “I knew if he got past me, people were going to die.”
Griffin pleaded guilty in April 2024 to:
- Attempted Assault in the First Degree (Class C violent felony)
- Reckless Endangerment in the First Degree
- Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Third Degree
While the defense pointed to Griffin’s struggles with mental health and substance abuse at the time of the incident, prosecutors emphasized the sheer lethality of the situation.
With the 10-year sentence now in effect, Griffin will remain in state custody until the early 2030s. For the staff and patients at Alba de Vida, the sentencing provides a measure of closure to a morning that changed the community forever.