The gun problem didn't start May 14. Law enforcement has spent years trying to solve it

A few minutes later, someone yelled up a five-digit combination. Galbraith put the numbers in and he saw a pile of handguns.

"There's like five," he told Granville. All were loaded: a revolver and four semi-automatics, including an FN 5.7. "That's like a rifle," Galbraith explained. "Extremely rare and expensive." They would later discover it was reported stolen in Pennsylvania.

Law enforcement officials say that it's increasingly common to find multiple guns while executing search warrants – a sign of the proliferation of guns.

"I've been doing this 23, 24 years," Granville said after the raid. "We're seeing more guns now that we ever have."

That fact was brought home in the most horrific way possible on May 14 when a gunman wearing body armor and armed with an AR-15 opened fire at Tops Markets on Jefferson Avenue, killing 10. With that tragedy and one the following week in Texas fresh in the public consciousness, Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia is preparing to testify before Congress on Wednesday about the toll that guns have taken on Buffalo. 

"We need some change," Gramaglia said Tuesday morning at Buffalo Niagara International Airport before flying to the nation's capital, where he is scheduled to testify before Congress on Wednesday. "We need to make our streets and communities safer."

Gramaglia and Zeneta Everhart, whose son Zaire Goodman was wounded in the May 14 massacre, will join witnesses from Uvalde, Texas, at a hearing of the House Oversight and Reform Committee at 10 a.m.

Cities across the United States saw a dramatic increase in gun violence over the last two years. Buffalo has been no exception, with a rise in shootings in 2020 and first half of 2021, according to Buffalo police data. 

The rate slowed in the second half of 2021 and the first part of this year seemed promising as police employed new tactics and the pressures of the pandemic began to ease.

The events of May 14 erased any positive feeling about progress.

Then, more gun violence erupted in cities across the U.S. last weekend. Three were killed and 12 more wounded in a mass shooting in Philadelphia. Three were killed in Chattanooga, Tenn., and 14 more were hurt.

Since the massacre at Tops, Buffalo saw a respite from the day-to-day violence on the streets. But it hasn't stopped.

There has been one new homicide since May 14 when a man driving a car was shot in the back before he crashed his vehicle into a building on Genesee Street.

Monday evening, a 35-year-old man who had been shot showed up in a civilian car at Erie County Medical Center. Police think it happened around Walden Avenue and Harmonia Street. And at 4:30 a.m. Tuesday, a man was shot inside an apartment complex on Linwood Avenue. He was listed in critical condition at ECMC.

Reducing gun violence has been a top priority of law enforcement in Buffalo.

Gramaglia, who was appointed commissioner in March, has been employing two basic strategies – getting guns out of the hands of criminals and preventing shootings by being more visible.

The raids like the one on Grote Street on May 12 are aimed at people involved in guns and drugs.

"Those are specific targeted raids on identified individuals," Gramaglia said.

The Buffalo Police Department's Intelligence Unit works closely with the the sheriff's narcotics and intelligence unit, the state police and the FBI to identify people who are trafficking drugs and guns.

The agencies have conducted multiple rounds of raids over the past couple of months and have not been shy about showing off their bounties. Late April, Buffalo detectives laid out two tables covered with revolvers, semi-automatic pistols and assault rifles, three of them considered ghost guns which are assembled from parts and don't have serial numbers.

But the police realize that the raids can be alarming. To address that, teams of cops from return to the same streets later on the same day of the raids and go door-to-door to talk with neighbors, explain what happened earlier and answer questions.

Capt. Tommy Champion, who oversees the Buffalo police Neighborhood Engagement Team and other community policing programs, said the hope is to break down barriers and be more available to the public.

"Sometimes, people want to talk one on one," he said. "Many people don't want to go through 911. They feel intimidated walking into a police district. So we want to bring it to them. Find out their complaints and serve."

On Grote Street the afternoon after the raid, Buffalo NET officers Vincent Humphrey and Matt Inglut, joined by Clint Winters, the FBI supervisory special agent of the Safe Streets Task Force, walked up to the porch where a woman and her mother sat.

"I don't know anything," Terry Cotto told them.

"We're just in the area," Winters assured her.

The officers handed her some pamphlets on safety, including information on the confidential tip line and advice on preventing car thefts.

Buffalo police are also trying to deter crime by dispatching patrol officers to specific addresses and blocks in between responding to 911 calls. Dubbed "directed patrols," the locations have been identified as spots where there has been previous criminal activity, such as reports of shots fired.

The patrol officers park their marked vehicles, switch on their flashers and try to talk to anyone who is around. They're not there to make arrests and issue tickets, but if a crime happens nearby then they're ready to act.

The idea is to "be present and engage with the community," Gramaglia said. "The more we can be seen at various spots in identified hot spots, the better opportunity we have to prevent crimes where they have been traditionally occurring."

"The whole point is to reduce gun violence and make safer neighborhoods," he said.