Acting Erie County District Attorney Michael J. Keane announces that Abdulla Abdalla, also known as “Dooley,” 25, of Buffalo, pleaded guilty yesterday afternoon before Erie County Court Judge Suzanne Maxwell Barnes to one count of Manslaughter in the First Degree (Class “B” violent felony). The defendant pleaded guilty to the charge in full satisfaction of the indictment ahead of jury selection in his trial, which was scheduled to commence next week.
On Monday, June 20, 2022, at approximately 8:15 a.m., the defendant caused the death of the victim by shooting him with an illegal gun inside of an apartment on 100 block of Grote Street. The victim, 40-year-old Monroe J. Cross, III, was taken by ambulance to ECMC where he later died.
Abdalla faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison when he is sentenced on Monday, April 14, 2025, at 9:30 a.m. He remains held without bail.
Acting DA Keane commends retired Detective Anthony Lapiana, retired Detective Erin McCarthy and Detective Judy Walker of the Buffalo Police Department for their work on this case as well as ECDA Confidential Criminal Investigator Salvatore Valvo.
The case was prosecuted by Chief Patrick B. Shanahan and Assistant District Attorney William Fitzgerald of the Felony Trials Bureau.