Drug raid leaves FBI agent in hospital

An early morning drug raid in Buffalo has left an FBI agent in the hospital Thursday night, and a former pro-basketball player in federal custody.

This is a story you saw first on CW23's Wake Up at 7:00 a.m.

A heavy police presence on Coit Street startled neighbors.

"...heard all this noise. The street was loaded with with police."

The heavy response came after an FBI agent was shot while executing a warrant during a round up of drug trafficking suspects on the city's east side.

Sources tell News 4, FBI Agent Peter Orchard was shot in the shoulder by another agent, although the agency is remaining tight lipped about the circumstances.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Laurie Bennett said, "The tactics surrounding this incident will be thoroughly reviewed. The process has already begun by evidence response team and other agents on the scene."

Agent Orchard was treated at the scene, and then transported to Erie County Medical Center.

Meanwhile, the morning drug raids netted dozens of arrests, in what authorities are calling a crackdown on a major cocaine ring.

Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said, "Crime and drug dealing will not be tolerated and is unwelcome in our community."

The crackdown involved local, state and federal authorities, focusing on the activities of a local street gang known as "31," named for Public School 31 on the east side.

Buffalo Police Commissioner H. McCarthy Gipson said, "We have known them to be very, very violent. Some of the activities are still ongoing."

Bennett said, "This gang was connected also to the homicide of Rome Ward and other multiple shootings."

In August 2007, News 4 reported that Rome Ward's body was discovered after he was reporting missing a month earlier.

Police had ruled his death a homicide but no arrests were made.

Meanwhile, a Buffalo basketball standout was among those arrested in the drug sweep.
29-year-old Damone Brown, who played for Syracuse University and a few National Basketball Association teams, was arrested in Reno, Nevada on a charge of money laundering.

Assistant United States Attorney Joseph Guerra III said, "It's alleged that he was involved in the use of a safe deposit box to conceal approximately 170,000 dollars in cash."

Gipson said, "I think that for his involvement, that he will ultimately have to pay the price."