Incident

Incident Description

On Saturday, February 14, 2026 while at home with his family, off-duty Buffalo police school resource officer Lance Woods allegedly shot and killed his wife, Alexis Skoczylas. Woods, 53, of Lewiston, was arrested and arraigned on the charge of Murder in the Second Degree in connection with the murder of his wife.

The Buffalo Police Department has suspended a captain who spoke with Officer Lance Woods at a station house hours before he was charged in the shooting death of his wife in the Niagara County town of Sanborn. Buffalo police and city officials confirmed the captain has been suspended with pay pending an internal review of her actions when she had an in-person “discussion” with Woods at the D-District station house on Hertel Avenue.

Lewiston police officers performed a welfare check for Alexis Skoczylas at the home just after 5 p.m. Saturday, the 14th but apparently didn’t make contact with anyone at that time.

A timeline of events surrounding Skoczylas’s death released by the police indicates that the police captain who has been suspended spoke with Woods in person at the D-District station at 7:52 p.m. Saturday, more than three hours after city police were first contacted by Skoczylas’ mother, who asked if someone could put her in touch with Woods because she did not have a phone number for him.

According to the timeline, the captain contacted Lewiston police at that time while Woods was “with him in her presence,” confirming he had his two children with him.

The timeline indicates that Woods left the station house just after shift change at 8:05 p.m. and the police captain notified E-District that “he arrived with kids and that they are all leaving the D-District station house.”

Shortly after midnight Sunday, Lewiston police returned to the Sanborn home and found Skoczylas’ body. Buffalo police were then notified that she was considered a homicide victim and that Woods was considered a person of interest.

Woods was detained by Amherst and Cheektowaga police roughly three hours later, at around 3 a.m.

The timeline indicates that the police captain who interacted with Woods a day earlier was “relieved for duty for the day at 3 a.m. on Sunday, about five hours before she was officially suspended with pay pending an investigation by the department’s internal affairs division.

Woods has been suspended without pay.

The shooting incident is being investigated by the New York State Attorney General’s Office.