Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn announces that defendant Nicholas Krencik, 35, of West Valley, pleaded guilty, as charged, to and one count of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree, a Class “C” violent felony, and two counts of Menacing a Police Officer, a Class “D” violent felony. 

The indictment is the result of an August 5, 2018 incident, when the defendant went to the County Fair store in Springville, armed with a shortened shotgun.  When the police were summoned, two Erie County Sheriff’s deputies responded and confronted the defendant, and a standoff ensued. Dramatic video shows the deputies repeatedly ordering the defendant to drop his weapon, even as the defendant advanced on one of the deputies.  Eventually, both deputies fired on the defendant, nearly simultaneously.  The defendant was incapacitated with non-life threatening injuries.

Krencik faces up to 15 years in state prison when he is sentenced as a Second Violent Felony Offender on May 14, 2019, at 2:00 p.m. before State Supreme Court Justice M. William Boller.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Ryan D. Haggerty of the DA’s Tactical Prosecution unit.