Friends and family were mourning the loss of 10 people who were killed Saturday in Buffalo, New York, after a gunman opened fire at a busy supermarket in what the FBI was investigating as a hate crime and racially motivated shooting.
Thirteen people were shot Saturday afternoon at a Tops Friendly Markets store in a historic neighborhood on the city’s near East Side. Eleven of the people shot were Black and two were white, police have said.
Authorities released the names of the victims Sunday evening, among them a security guard hailed as a “hero” for trying to stop the gunman and a deacon who often drove shoppers home. Their ages range from 32 to 86 years old.
Here’s what we know about the victims:
Aaron Salter Jr.
Salter Jr., 55, was a retired police lieutenant with the Buffalo Police Department who was working as a security guard at the Tops store when the shooting occurred, Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said.
Salter, of Lockport, New York, fired multiple shots, which struck the gunman, who was wearing body armor. The gunman returned fire, killing Salter, police said.
Gramaglia described Salter as a “beloved” security guard and “a hero in our eyes” for his actions during the shooting.
“He was a hero who tried to protect people in the store,” Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown told CNN on Sunday.
Ruth Whitfield
Whitfield, 86, was shopping at the Tops store when she was shot and killed, her son, Garnell W. Whitfield, told The Buffalo News. She was stopping for groceries after visiting her husband at a nursing home.
“My mom was the consummate mom. My mother was a mother to the motherless. She was a blessing to all of us. She loved God and taught us to do the same thing,” Garnell Whitfield, who is a retired Buffalo Fire Commissioner, told the Buffalo News.
Whitfield, who was from Buffalo, had four children and eight grandchildren. She was a member of the Durham Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church for 50 years, the New York Times reported, citing her daughter-in-law Cassietta Whitfield.
Pearl Young
Young of Buffalo, 77, was grocery shopping after grabbing lunch with her sister-in-law when she was shot and killed, AL.com reported. When Young’s adult son, Damon, arrived at the store to pick up his mother, he was met with sirens and police cars in the parking lot, her niece, Jacqueline Wright, told the news outlet.
Young was from Alabama, and she ran a food pantry in the Central Park neighborhood near where the shooting occurred, feeding those in need for over 25 years.
Katherine ‘Kat’ Massey
Massey, 72, of Buffalo, was a civil rights and education advocate, her friend and former Erie County legislator Betty Jean Grant told the Buffalo News.
Her sister, Barbara Massey, stood outside the Tops story for hours dialing Kat’s phone in hopes she would pick up. But that evening she discovered she had died.
“She was a beautiful soul,” Barbara Massey told the Buffalo News.
Last year, Massey wrote a letter in The Buffalo News in support of more federal regulation of guns, touching on urban street violence and mass shootings.
“There needs to be extensive federal action/legislation to address all aspects of the issue,” she wrote in the letter. “Current pursued remedies mainly inspired by mass killings — namely, universal background checks and banning assault weapons — essentially exclude the sources of our city’s gun problems. Illegal handguns, via out of state gun trafficking, are the primary culprits.”
Roberta A. Drury
Drury, 32, of Buffalo, was among those killed Saturday, police said.
Amanda Drury told the New York Times her sister was “vibrant” and “always was the center of attention and made the whole room smile and laugh.”
Heyward Patterson
Patterson, 67, was a deacon at a Buffalo church and had gone to a soup kitchen before going to the Tops store, where he often offered to drive people home with their bags. Pastor Russell Bell of State Tabernacle Church of God in Christ said Bell often cleaned the church and do what was needed.
“From what I understand, he was assisting somebody putting their groceries in their car when he was shot and killed,” said Bell said.
Patterson was a regular at The State Tabernacle Church of God, Buffalo News reported.
“Whatever he had, he’d give it to you,” Tirzah Patterson, his wife of 13 years, told the news outlet. “You ask, he’ll give it. If he don’t got it, he’ll make a way to get it or send you to the person that can give it to you. He’s going to be missed a lot.”
Celestine Chaney
Chaney, 65, of Buffalo, was among the victims. According to the New York Times, Chaney was a single mother who worked at a suit manufacturer, then made baseball caps, before retiring.
She traveled to Tops supermarket on Saturday to make her favorite strawberry shortcakes, her son, Wayne Jones, told Insider. Jones said he usually accompanied his mom to go grocery shopping, but stayed behind on Saturday, recovering from knee surgery.
“We went grocery shopping, that was what we did. As she got older, I’d take her grocery shopping,” he told Insider. “It’s ironic that the one time we didn’t go together, there’s a tragedy.”
Andre Mackneil
Mackneil, 53, of Auburn, New York, was in town visiting relatives and was picking up a surprise birthday cake for his grandson.
“He never came out with the cake,” Clarissa Alston-McCutcheon said of her cousin. She said this sort of surprise was typical for him. He was “just a loving and caring guy. Loved family. Was always there for his family.”
Geraldine Talley
Talley, 62, worked as an executive assistant for years and was famous for her cheesecake, People reported.
Her niece, Kesha Chapman, told People that Talley was “the sweetest person.”
Talley “loved everybody. She was always smiling. She didn’t like confrontation. She wanted everything to be easy and full of love,” Chapman said.
Margus D. Morrison
Morrison, 52, was from Buffalo, according to Buffalo police. He was a father of three, Morrison’s mother told ABC 7 Buffalo.
Contributing: The Associated Press