Suspect charged in double homicide after couple found dead in their home: Officials
A suspect has been charged with murder in the "senseless and violent" killing of two men after allegedly breaking into the couple's home in upstate New York, officials announced on Friday.
Police discovered Michael "Mickey" Harmon, 40, and Jordan Celotto, 37, dead in the basement of their Buffalo home on Tuesday, officials said.
Bryan Chiclana, 34, who police said was also in the home at the time of the discovery, has since been charged with one count of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder, officials said.
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The suspect allegedly broke into the couple's home through a basement window early Tuesday morning and "intentionally struck both victims in their heads with a blunt object," Erie County District Attorney Michael Keane said during a press briefing on Friday.
Both victims died as a result of the blunt force trauma to their heads, he said.
"The nature of these crimes is truly horrific," Buffalo Mayor Chris Scanlon said during Friday's press briefing. "The senseless and violent nature of them is something that we cannot and will not stand for here in the city of Buffalo."
Police have evidence that Chiclana was in the area of the couple's home, located in the Allentown neighborhood, on Tuesday morning and had attempted or successfully broken into at least three residences, according to Buffalo Police Chief of Detectives Craig Macy. The suspect also tried to get into multiple vehicles, he said.
The deaths were discovered later Tuesday afternoon. A friend who went to the house after one of the victims didn't show up to work that day spotted the suspect with a knife and called police, authorities said.
The suspect began cutting himself once officers responded to the scene and he was transported to a hospital with a non-life-threatening injury to his neck, police said. He remained hospitalized under police supervision before being discharged earlier Friday, officials said.
Chiclana was immediately booked and then arraigned on Friday. He pleaded not guilty to all counts and was remanded without bail, online court records show. ABC News has reached out to his attorney for comment.
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Harmon and Celotto were well-known and well-loved members of the Buffalo LGBTQ+ community, Scanlon said. There is no evidence that the suspect knew the victims or that this was a hate crime, he said.
"We want to make it clear that this was an isolated, non-targeted attack," the mayor said. "It was not rooted in a hate crime."
Fillmore District Council member Mitch Nowakowski, who was friends with the victims, said Harmon and Celotto had been partners for "quite some time."
"Why this has really sparked such an outpour is not only because of the love for Mickey and Jordan, is it's an example of an incident that is everyone's worst nightmare -- that someone breaks into your home and murders you," Nowakowski said during Friday's briefing. "And that is what people are really reeling with, because it's everyone's worst trauma and fear."
"Everybody wants to see justice for Mickey and Jordan," he added.
Nowakowski remembered the two as artists who worked to improve the Allentown community through their work and activism.
"I refuse to allow Mickey and Jordan's memory to be attached to these heinous crimes," he said during emotional remarks at a press briefing earlier this week. "I want everybody to know that these people were artists, were people of the Allentown community who made it better, who made things happen, who worked with me ever since I got into office."
"When you look and see Allentown -- its vibrancy, its festivals, its artwork -- think of them, because that is who they are," he said.
Suspect charged in double homicide after couple found dead in their home: Officials originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
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