(Reuters) – As investigators delved more deeply into why a young white man went on a shooting rampage at a Buffalo, New York, grocery store, fresh details emerged on Monday about the 10 people who were killed and the three who were wounded in the racist attack. [L2N2X80NG]
The 13 victims – 11 of them Black – came from many walks of life. There was a pharmacist, a church deacon, a retired police officer who worked as a security guard at the store, and a young man who pushed carts and did other jobs.
Following are brief biographical sketches of those killed:
Ruth Whitfield
Whitfield, 86, was the mother of former Buffalo fire commissioner Garnell Whitfield. She was on her daily trip home from visiting her husband in a nursing home when she stopped at Tops, according to reports in local media.
“My mother was my father’s caretaker,” Whitfield told CBS News.
Katherine “Kat” Massey
Massey, 72, a civil rights advocate for the Black community in Buffalo, frequently wrote letters to the Buffalo News. A year ago, she wrote a letter that focused on the escalating gun violence in Buffalo and many major U.S. cities.
“Illegal handguns, via out of state gun trafficking, are the primary culprits,” she wrote, arguing for more federal action and legislation to end gun violence.
Her sister told the Buffalo News that Massey was “a beautiful soul.”
Pearly Young
Known to many as “Miss Pearly,” Young taught Sunday school and led youth groups at her church, the Buffalo News reported.
She ran a food pantry in the Central Park neighborhood of Buffalo for 25 years, according to a tweet from news reporter Madison Carter.
Young, 77, was a grandmother and missionary who loved “singing, dancing” and being with family.
Margus D. Morrison
Morrison, 52, was a father of three from Buffalo, his mother told ABC 7 Buffalo. Since 2019, he worked as a bus aide for a local Buffalo school, USA Today reported.
Andre Mackneil
Mackneil, 53, who traveled to Buffalo to visit with relatives, was at the grocery store to pick up a surprise birthday cake for his grandson, but the trip ended in tragedy, USA Today reported. His cousin Clarissa Alston-McCutcheon said Mackneil “loved family – was always there for his family.” He lived in Auburn, New York, about 120 miles east of Buffalo, police said.
Aaron Salter
Salter, 55, a former Buffalo police officer who worked as a security guard at Tops after retiring, was praised for his efforts to stop the shooter. Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia called Salter a “hero in our eyes.”
He fired at the gunman, but the assailant was wearing body armor and was not harmed by the shot, according to multiple reports.
Geraldine Talley
Talley, 62, from Buffalo, was one of nine siblings, her younger sister, Kaye Chapman-Johnson, told ABC News. She had a long-time career as an executive assistant and was known for her smile as well as for her cheesecake, People reported.
Roberta A. Drury
Roberta Drury, 32, was known as a vibrant, outgoing person who “could talk to anyone,” her sister Amanda Drury said on Facebook Messenger.
She had moved to Buffalo from the Syracuse, New York, area to be with her older brother after his bone marrow transplant. She helped him with his bar, The Dalmatia, and with his family.
Heyward Patterson
Patterson, 67, was a church deacon who gave people rides back and forth from the grocery, according to the Buffalo News.
Celestine Chaney
Chaney, 65, of Buffalo, a breast cancer survivor, was a single mother who retired from businesses that manufactured suits and baseball caps. She had gone to Tops to buy strawberries to make shortcake, her son, Wayne Jones, told the New York Times.
Three other people were wounded in the attack:
Jennifer Warrington
Warrington, 50, worked as a pharmacist at the supermarket, the Buffalo News reported. Warrington, from Tonawanda, New York, a suburb of Buffalo, was treated and released from Erie County Medical Center.
Zaire Goodman, 20, a Tops store employee, was pushing shopping carts back to the store when he was shot in the neck, his grandfather, Charles Everheart, Sr., told Reuters. Goodman was treated and released from Erie County Medical Center.
Christopher Braden
Braden is 55 and from Lackawanna, New York, outside of Buffalo.
(Reporting by Jessica DiNapoli and Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
