Ten people were gunned down at a Buffalo supermarket May 14 in a horrifying mass shooting that officials were quick to label as "pure evil" and racially motivated.
Complete coverage: 10 killed, 3 wounded in mass shooting at Buffalo supermarket
The shooting stunned a community basking in a warm May afternoon, with shoppers filling the Tops in a predominantly Black neighborhood at 1275 Jefferson Ave.
Of the 13 people shot, 11 were Black and two were white, Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said. All 10 of the victims who were killed were Black, said Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn Jr. The suspect is white. The killings are being investigated as a racist hate crime.
The accused gunman, Payton S. Gendron, pleaded guilty to 15 charges in State Supreme Court in Buffalo on Nov. 28, 2022. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Feb. 15, 2023.
The shooting is the worst in Buffalo history.
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"The governor’s Domestic Terrorism Task Force has not met once since its creation two years ago. Its failure to produce a crucial report on the matter is a dereliction and a direct failure by the governor’s administration," Assemblyman Mike Reilly, a Staten Island Republican, said on Twitter.
The money includes $36.5 million for housing and social services. She said more than 1,000 homeowners struggling to keep their houses in good shape will receive about $10,000 each in grants to fix their homes.
The Tops Markets on Jefferson Avenue will reopen Friday, two months and one day after a racist mass shooting there killed 10 people, injured three and stunned the community.
Tops Markets opened the doors to the Jefferson Avenue store on the eve of the store's grand reopening two months after the tragic shooting the…
Produce Manager Rose Marie Wysocki was in the store and managed to escape the racist attack that killed ten people two months ago at the Tops …
“There have been a lot of helping hands here,” said Tops Maintenance Manager Tim Bowen. “There will also be something inside the store, but this is sacred to the community, and we want to respect that.”
‘The store gives you a sense of healing’: A look inside the newly renovated Tops on Jefferson Avenue
Tops gave a tour Thursday of its remodeled Jefferson Avenue store. The store features a new contemporary look, a new layout with open sightlines to the back of the store and a “water wall” memorial to the left of the main entrance.
Exuberance coursed through the sun-soaked crowd gathered for the Juneteenth parade Saturday. But the pain and sadness of last month's racist massacre at Tops Markets on Jefferson Avenue was evident.
Beyond devastating the victims’ families and friends, the mass shooting also traumatized an entire community – trauma that no doubt will be triggered again when the store reopens Friday – because the market was targeted precisely because it serves a predominantly Black neighborhood.
Community members say further investments are needed to expand access to food for residents.
Families of victims and survivors of the mass shooting at Tops on Jefferson Avenue have their chance to tell the court today about their loved ones, and how the hate crime May 14 affected their lives.
• Follow our live coverage throughout the day.
In the year since the shooting, victims' relatives have appeared before Congress to address white supremacy and gun reform.
