Remembering the victims of the Buffalo mass shooting
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A small vigil set up across the street from a Tops grocery store on Jefferson Avenue in Buffalo, where a heavily armed 18-year-old white man entered the store in a predominantly Black neighborhood and shot 13 people, killing 10, on May 14. Photo: Matt Burkhartt for The Washington Post via Getty Images
A retired police officer, grocery store employees and Saturday shoppers were among those killed when a gunman opened fire in what authorities are calling a "straight-up racially motivated hate crime" in a predominantly Black neighborhood of Buffalo.
The big picture: Thirteen people in total were shot, 3 of whom are expected to survive. Eleven of the 13 people were Black, police said.
The latest: Authorities have released the names of the 10 victims who were fatally shot. Below are their stories.
Celestine Chaney: Chaney, 65, was visiting her sister when the two went to the grocery store to get strawberries for shortcake, the New York Times reported.
- "She loved those," her son Wayne Jones said.
- While Chaney's sister made it to the freezer, Jones said, "my mom cannot really walk like she used to, she basically can’t run.”
Roberta Drury: Drury, 32, went to the supermarket to get groceries for dinner, according to the New York Times.
- "She was very vibrant," her sister Amanda Drury said. "She always was the center of attention and made the whole room smile and laugh."
Katherine "Kat" Massey: Massey, 72, was an advocate for civil rights and education, her friend and former Erie County Legislator Betty Jean Grant told the Buffalo News.
- "We lost a voice yesterday," Grant said. "We lost a powerful, powerful voice."
- "She was a beautiful soul," Barbara Massey, the victim's sister, said in a text to the Buffalo News on Saturday.
- Kat Massey wrote a letter to the Buffalo News in May 2021, urging the federal government to address gun violence.
Heyward Patterson: Patterson, 67, would frequently give people rides to the supermarket and help them carry their groceries, his great niece Teniqua Clark told the New York Times.
- Patterson — who was also known as Deacon Patterson, Tenny Boy, Boy Tenny or Tenny — was killed while loading an elderly woman's groceries into his car, his friend Tony Sanders told the Buffalo News.
- “He was just an outgoing person,” his former wife Tirzah Patterson told the Buffalo News. “He was an all-around person, with a good heart, good spirit, very mild, and a sense of humor. He was the best deacon here; we had an excellent deacon. He’s going to be missed in this area and at home. He was a good man.”
Aaron Salter: The recently retired Buffalo police officer, 55, was working as a security guard at the store during the attack.
- "He's a true hero," Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday. "We don't know what he prevented. There could have been more victims if not for his actions."
- "He went down fighting," Gramaglia added. "He came in, he went towards the gunfire, he went towards the fight. He shot the individual, but because of his armor plating vest, it had no effect on him. Unfortunately, the suspect returned fire, and he succumbed to his injuries. Like I said he was a beloved member, and we're sure he saved lives yesterday."
Pearl Young: Young, 77, ran a food pantry in Buffalo's Central Park neighborhood for 25 years, 11Alive news anchor Madison Carter said in a tweet.
- "She loved singing, dancing, & being with family," Carter said. "She was mother, grandma, & missionary. Gone too soon."
Ruth Whitfield: Whitfield, 86, was a mother of four.
- "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," retired Buffalo Fire Commissioner Garnell W. Whitfield told the Buffalo News on Saturday.
- "There's nothing we can do that's going to take away the hurt, take away these tears, take away to pain, take away the hole in our hearts, because part of us is gone, senselessly taken from us by hate," Whitfield said at a press conference Monday.
Margus Morrison: Morrison, 52, was a father of three, their mother told ABC 7 News.
Andre Mackneil: Mackneil, 53, was in town visiting relatives and had gone to the store to pick up a surprise birthday cake for his grandson.
- “He never came out with the cake,” his cousin Clarissa Alston-McCutcheon told USA Today, adding that these sorts of surprises were typical for Morrison.
- He was "just a loving and caring guy. Loved family. Was always there for his family," she added.
Geraldine Talley: Talley, 62, was one of nine siblings and was "an amazing sister, mother, aunt," her younger sister Kaye Chapman-Johnson told ABC News.
- "Our sister, we had so many plans together, so many plans, and everything has just been stripped away from us."
Go deeper: Law enforcement investigating Buffalo mass shooting as hate crime
Editor's note: This article has been updated with new details throughout. It has been corrected to reflect that Tirzah Patterson is Heyward Patterson's former wife, not his wife.
