BUFFALO, NY (WKBW) — There was an incredible turnout for Sunday’s commemoration outside the Tops Market on Jefferson Avenue in Buffalo to honor the lives lost one year ago, on May 14, 2022, in a mass shooting. Those who attended wanted to make sure everyone knows hatred and racism will not be tolerated in Buffalo.
A solemn and moving moment as the bell rang out across the Tops Market parking lot exactly at 2.28 p.m. — the same time gunshots rang out one year ago killing ten members of Buffalo's community and injuring three.
Very moving moment as bell tolls to remember the lives loss a year ago in massacre on Jefferson Ave. @TopsMarkets @WKBW https://t.co/uaoxBBW6ea pic.twitter.com/4rKvqJzo5p
— Eileen Buckley (@eileenwkbw) May 14, 2023
“It was 365 days ago when a white supremacist drove two hours to our great city with the expressed intent of killing as many Black people as possible,” Mayor Byron Brown.
Zaire Goodman was working at the store that day and was injured in the attack. He tells me he remembers that day starting out as very “normal” until the shooting happened.
“I wasn't surprised in the slightest, to be honest, but I felt like, not that it would happen, but events like this are likely and will always happen, simply because of who I am,” Zaire Goodman. “I've always known that something like this would happen, it's no secret we're like the gun country.”
The shooting shattered the lives of ten family members who lost loved ones and traumatized many in our community.
“It's very emotional right now for me to be here, so it's hard, but I felt like I needed to be here,” Almeeta Harber, Buffalo resident.
Harber has been a lifelong Buffalo resident. She didn't know any of the victims but feels that are still like family. She says she still can't go into the Tops store.
“Will you ever be able to walk in that store?” Buckley asked. “No, no. I would not be able to. I attempted to — I drove in the parking lot and I drove right out. I couldn't do it. I had to pull to the side and it was just too much,” replied Harber.
Governor Kathy Hochul also spoke at the ceremony.
“The trauma that was inflicted — the emotional harm. We are here to help you heel. This is not just putting up a memorial and walk away. We are committed to helping you rise up once again,” Hochul stated.
But Sunday's gathering was another chance to help the community heal. with support, love, and faith.
“God we ask you to put our broken pieces back together again, knit us together in unity for this community, bind us together in love — like the roots of a tree,” Reverend Rachelle Robinson prayed.
“Hate can not win. Why? Because love will always win — love will end hate — love will always win and we stand here as Buffalonians to prove it. Amen.”
Written in chalk on the sidewalk along Jefferson Avenue outside the store, are some very powerful statements: “You took our mother”. “Racism shot these bullets”, "Black lives still matter" and “My heart is broken.”
