Riccardo McCray Murder Trial Begins in Massacre at Buffalo Anniversary Party

Jury selection is set to begin in the trial of a man accused of opening fire outside a restaurant in Buffalo, N.Y., in a fatal shooting that shocked the upstate city.

Riccardo McCray, 23, has been charged with first- and second-degree murder. Prosecutors say the former gang member opened fire on family and friends celebrating a wedding anniversary Aug. 14, killing four people -- including the husband -- and wounding four in a bloody massacre.

McCray is the only suspect. He has been in custody since August, when he turned himself in for questioning, but he says he is innocent.

At first, the scene outside Buffalo's City Grill in the early hours of Aug. 14 was one of revelry, as family and friends of Tanisha and Danyell Mackin celebrated the couple's first anniversary with a night of food and dancing. But then, at about 2:30 a.m., the restaurant's DJ abruptly stopped the music and asked everyone to leave, according to the Buffalo News. As people filed out into the street, gunshots rang out, leaving four people dead and sending dozens fleeing the popular downtown restaurant.

Willie McCaa, 26, Shawnita McNeil, 27, and Tiffany Wilhite, 32 were also killed in the shooting.

Police initially arrested another man in the slayings, but prosecutors dropped the charges just days later when Erie County District Attorney Frank Sedita said a video of the shooting showed that they had the wrong man.

In an unusual move, McCray made a public plea last week, writing in a local newspaper that he is innocent and appealing to the city's black community to rally to his side.

The 23-year-old father said he fears he won't be able to receive a fair trial. "My lawyer doesn't trust me and seems to think I am guilty, even though he knows tapes exist of more than one shooter," McCray wrote in the Challenger on Wednesday. "The community itself seems to think I am guilty already. Other than the help of [community activist] Mr. Darnell Jackson (so the police wouldn't kill me) our Black leaders seem to have forgotten me."

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McCray's attorney, Joseph Terranova, has said that he plans to challenge eyewitness accounts of the shooting. "Everybody had been drinking. What ability do these people have to make a positive identification?" Terranova told AOL News by phone today. He said the video of the shooting obtained by police was too grainy to make out facial features.

Tanisha Mackin, 31 and her husband Danyell Mackin, also 31, were preparing to hold a christening for their 6-month-old daughter Aug. 14. The couple, who met in Buffalo but lived in Austin, Texas, also have a 6-year-old son.

If convicted, McCray could face life in prison without the possibility of parole.