Ahmad "Poppy" Alsaid murder trial delayed

Rick Pfeiffer, Niagara Gazette, Niagara Falls, N.Y.
·2 min read

May 7—LOCKPORT — The trial of a more than two-year-old murder case has been moved back to accommodate a family matter for a member of the defense team.

Niagara County prosecutors confirmed that the trial of two suspects, charged in the 2018 slaying of a popular Falls convenience store owner, will now take place in July.

Jury selection in the murder trial of William McEnnis and William Coleman had been set to begin on Monday.

McEnnis, 36, of Keystone Avenue in Buffalo, and Coleman, 31, of Niagara Falls, are accused of the Nov. 21, 2018, slaying of Niagara Falls convenience store owner Ahmad "Poppy" Alsaid.

The two men, who were on parole after serving 10 years in prison on charges related to a violent robbery in Buffalo, are each facing two counts of second-degree murder, three counts of first-degree robbery and two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon in the robbery of Alsaid's Bridgeway Market in the 1100 block of Niagara Street.

They have pleaded not guilty to the charges. They are being held without bail while they await trial.

Coleman and McEnnis are also accused of holding up a 7-Eleven on Buffalo Avenue in the Falls, at gunpoint not long after the murder of Alsaid.

The two parolees have also been charged in connection with the robbery of a Falls man on Ninth Street 11 days before the Bridgeway Market homicide. In that case, prosecutors say, McEnnis and Coleman stole the man's wallet and then shot him in the hip.

Police and prosecutors have released few details of the robbery-homicide. They have charged that McEnnis and Coleman entered Alsaid's store and emptied the register before shooting the popular neighborhood merchant.

Alsaid was rushed to the Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo, where he died from his wounds.