Ren LaForme, Senior Managing Editor

            A 19-year-old Clarence resident was fatally stabbed in the University Heights early Saturday morning after a Halloween party turned violent.

            Jacob Herbert, a 2008 Clarence High School graduate, was involved in a dispute after the party ended around 4:30 a.m., Buffalo Police said.

            “Police believe that there was some type of fight or dispute involving a victim and another individual as people were leaving at a large house party,” said Buffalo Police Spokesman Michael DeGeorge.

            DeGeorge said that the victim was stabbed multiple times and succumbed to his injuries, marking the 50th homicide in the City of Buffalo this year.

            Police are still investigating and have not yet made any arrests, DeGeorge said.

            “Homicide detectives were called to the scene following the incident and are following up on any and all leads at this time,” DeGeorge said.

            Dale Vernon, the owner of the house at 112 Lisbon Ave. where his sons Nick and Doug reside, confirmed that a party occurred in the house and a person who attended the party was stabbed across the street.

            “I saw a punch thrown and I ran out of my apartment. I just wanted to stop the fight,” said a resident of the house, who did not want to be identified.

            The resident wasn’t sure who started the fight, but he did say that Herbert was acting in an aggressive manner as he left the house.

            “There were people outside that had never been let in and a fight broke out,” he said.

            The resident said that he couldn’t get out the front door quickly because a couch was blocking the way.

            “By the time I got out there, the kid was lying on the ground,” he said, referring to Herbert.

            Neither the residents of the house nor Herbert have a direct connection to UB.

            He said that Herbert was stabbed twice on the left side, three times in the back, once in the mid-chest and once in the abdomen. He was unsure what type of weapon caused the wounds.

            “I took my shirt off and tried to stop the bleeding on his chest but I didn’t know about his back or his side,” the resident said. “He died right there.”

            A neighbor, who also wished to remain anonymous for safety concerns, said that she saw the party and that the police arrived to break it up around 1:30 a.m. However, she said that people came back after they left.

            She woke up shortly after the stabbing.

            “I woke up at 5:30 [a.m.] and there was flashing lights in my driveway,” she said.

            The woman said that the police told her there were 265 people at the party when they broke it up at 1:30 a.m.

            “A couple of hundred individuals might have been at the party,” DeGeorge said.

            The neighbor stated that she believed the resident pushed all of his furniture into one room and was charging people admission to get in. She also believed underage people were drinking at the party.

            Police could not confirm that claim.

            “The department is looking into everything surrounding the incident,” DeGeorge said.

            According to the neighbor, there is a security camera near where the incident occurred, but it is not facing the direction of the incident.

            She also said that UB students were not throwing the party, but might have attended.

            “This area here is going through a lot of turmoil … I keep thinking – they know this community is going downhill,” she said. “Why don’t they provide us more cops?”

            According to the Amherst Bee, Herbert was involved in the murder of Antoinette Larkin, 66, Amherst, in 2005. The woman’s daughter-in-law, Lynn Larkin, was implicated in the crime along with Lynn’s son and three other teens, which include Herbert. Lynn was reportedly attempting to benefit from the victim’s life insurance policy.

            Herbert admitted his involvement and was sent to a state facility for juvenile delinquents for less than a year. Herbert’s attorney, Gary Wojtan, said that Herbert did not play a large role in the crime and gave statements about the other suspects, all of whom pled guilty or were convicted.

            Javon Jackson, a 2009 UB graduate, was also murdered near Lisbon Avenue in May.

            Police are urging anyone who was at the party or anyone with any possible leads to call the anonymous tip line at 716-847-2255.

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