Erie County District John J. Flynn announces that 25-year-old Tong Rieang of Buffalo has been sentenced by Erie County Court Judge Sheila A. DiTullio to an indeterminate sentence of 50 years to life in prison.

After midnight on September 27, 2017, the defendant robbed two victims at gunpoint and shot another intended victim in the chest while in the vicinity of Potomac and Parkdale Avenues in the City of Buffalo. Immediately thereafter, the defendant ran across the street where he fatally shot 23-year-old Deion Brown with a semi-automatic pistol.

The victim who was shot in the chest has recovered from her injury.

In December 2018, a jury found Rieang guilty, as charged, of one count of Murder in the Second Degree, one count of Attempted Murder in the Second Degree, one count of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree, one count of Assault in the First Degree, one count of Attempted Robbery in the First Degree and two counts of Robbery in the First Degree.

DA Flynn commends the investigative work of the Buffalo Police Department Homicide Squad, including Detectives Joy Jermain and Brendan Kiefer.

The case was prosecuted by Gary W. Hackbush, Chief of the DA’s Tactical Prosecution Unit, and Assistant District Attorney Ashley M. Morgan of the DA’s Homicide Bureau.