BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Three years after the mass shooting at Tops on Jefferson Avenue in Buffalo, 7 News anchor Ed Drantch walked through the community, sharing the voices of those who live in the community.
Many of these people said there is so much that still needs to change.
WATCH: Voice of the Jefferson Avenue community
Garnell Whitfield's 86-year-old mother, Ruth, was killed in the mass shooting.
"Because of the circumstances surrounding my mother's death, we have been given a platform; we have an opportunity to speak publicly about these things," Whitfield said. "But look at all the voices, all of the people in this community and around this country who have no voice. Who have not been supported and who live with the trauma and the grief, hurt and the pain of these things every day and my heart goes out to them on this day."
We met Paul Cameron on Riley Street.
Drantch: Have you been back [to Tops]?
Cameron: Oh yeah. I wasn't scared off by him. I'm not going to allow him or anyone to scare me away from the store in my community. I was determined for him not to beat me, but I'm one person. There are still the other hundreds who might not return out of fear it'll happen again.
Kimberly Gowie has lived on Riley Street for nearly a decade.
Drantch: Talk to me about what you're feeling here today, three years later.
Gowie: Well, numb, really, to tell you the truth. I pass by here every day. I think about it every day...look at that store every day. Some people stopped going to Tops. It's a shame one individual changed our lives forever, in the worst way. In the worst way.
Linda Poole has lived on Riley for 30 years.
Drantch: What do you want to change three years later?
Poole: What do I want to change? Everything. Everything. I want everything to change. I want to see funding come down in here. I want to see the help that we need because the people just don't have it and if you don't have it, that's why everything starts looking the way it does. About 60% of the people who live down here now are renters. So when you don't own anything, it doesn't mean as much to you.
Hilda Cornwell said she was supposed to be in the store when the gunman started firing. Something happened, and she wound up not being able to go to the store.
"It hurts to think that those innocent people lost their lives trying to get food and nourishment for their families. You just have to take one day at a time...one day at a time and try to survive...but it never leaves your mind. You know? It never leaves your mind," Cornwell said.
