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.
Note: USA TODAY will update this story as more information becomes available.
Aaron Salter, 55
Aaron 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, 86
Ruth 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 de ella 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 AME Zion Church for 50 years, the New York Times reportedciting her daughter-in-law Cassietta Whitfield.
Pearl Young, 77
Pearl 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, 72
Kat 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 Drury, 32
Roberta Drury, 32, of Buffalo, was among those killed Saturday.
was among the victims,
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, 67
Heyward 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 Newsreported.
“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, 65
Celestine Chaney, 65, of Buffalo, was among the victims.
According to the New York TimesChaney was a single mother who worked at a suit manufacturer, then made baseball caps, before retiring.
Margus Morrison, 52
Margus Morrison, 52, was from Buffalo, according to officials.
André Mackneil, 53
Andre Mackneil, 53, was from Auburn, New York, according to officials.
Geraldine Talley, 62
Geraldine Talley, 62, was from Buffalo, according to officials.
Contributing: Associated Press
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism