BUFFALO, NY (WKBW) — Wednesday marks three years since the racist mass shooting at the Tops Market on Jefferson Avenue in Buffalo. 10 of our friends and neighbors were killed, and many others were forever scarred.
The grocery store is important to many people who live in the neighborhood, but for some, the painful memories of that day make it too difficult to shop there.
I talked to a woman who has never stepped back into the supermarket, and I also spoke to a community leader who is helping people like her still get the food they need.
"Inside, I’m crying," said Lenny Lane, the president of Buffalo F.A.T.H.E.R.S. "I know lots of people that don't want to go in here. I know lots."
Nearly every day for the last three years, Lane has been in a parking lot across from the Jefferson Avenue Tops.
Lane is committed to helping members of the community receive food, especially for those who can no longer step back into the supermarket, like Audrey Garnett, a lifelong East Side resident.
"After the shooting, I just never been back into the store," Garnett said. "I just never felt to go back.”
“Will there ever be a day that you'll try to go back to that?” I asked.
“I really don't know," Garnett answered. "I mean, it's been said to me, 'Well, it's just like any other supermarket,' but it's not.”
Garnett and Lane have been trying to heal for the last three years, but said it's very tough. They reflected on how the gunman specifically targeted Buffalo's Black community.
"A lot of people are feeling like you cannot go in there, because they feel like, you know, they are stepping on or stepping over,” Lane said.
“It's not just just the supermarket, it can be anywhere that, you know, the fear can get to me, just thinking of it,” said Garnett.
“It could be overwhelming, because the healing must take place, but it's got to start with us,” Lane said.
Lane told me that for anyone who may never be able to walk in this store again, he'll always be here with nourishment for their hunger and their hearts.
