Katherine Massey, Aaron Salter, Jr., Pearl Young.Photo: courtesy
A 19-year-old White man whoshot and killed 10 Black peopleinside a Buffalo supermarket has pleaded guilty to murdering them, Erie County District Attorney John Flynn announced Monday.
Payton Gendron, of Conklin, N.Y, pleaded guilty to murder and attempted murder, as well as state domestic terrorism and hate crime charges that carry a mandatory life sentence without parole.
The mass shooting took place at about 2:30 p.m. on May 14 when the gunman walked into Tops Friendly Market and began firing — killing 10 people and injuring three others.
At the time of the shooting, officials described the massacre as “racially motivated violent extremism,” the AP reported.
“It is my sincere hope that this individual, this white supremacist who just perpetrated a hate crime on an innocent community, will spend the rest of his days behind bars. And heaven help him in the next world as well,” said New York Gov. Kathy Hochul hours after the massacre.
Below is information about the victims of the attack.
Ruth Whitfield, 86
Family Photo
Ruth Whitfield had just finished visiting her husband in a Buffalo nursing home when she decided to stop at Tops for some groceries.
“From her daily sojourn to care for my father, she left the nursing home and stopped right there, a few blocks from the nursing home, at the store to grab something while on the way home. She didn’t deserve to be murdered,” her son, Garnell Whitfield Jr., 65, told PEOPLE.
“She loved us beyond measure, unconditionally. She loved us to a fault, even when we were wrong.” He added, “She was an epitome of love. And we aspire to be as much like her as we can.”
According to Garnell, his mom Ruth will be remembered as a “staunch family advocate” who was “very proud of her heritage as an African-American” and proud to be a “Black female.” She leaves behind four kids, seven grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.
Pearl Young, 77
Pearly Young, 77:.Courtesy Photo
“She was always laughing and talking non-stop,” Stephanie Courtney, who worked with Young at the school in the Buffalo Public School District, told PEOPLE. “The kids loved her. She took over a special ed class with students with profound disabilities. She learned how to Zoom during COVID.”
The Alabama native moved to New York as a young adult and married a minister. The couple, who lived in Buffalo, had three children and 10 grandchildren.
The family said in a statement to PEOPLE, “If there is one consolation that we can take from this tragedy is that we know that mom is up in heaven with our dad (her Ollie) and dancing and shouting with our heavenly father.”
Katherine Massey, 72
Katherine “Kat” Massey.Courtesy The Massey Family
One year ago this month, Katherine “Kat” Massey wrote an opinion piece forThe Buffalo Newscalling for federal legislation to address the issue of guns in this country.
A year later, the community activist and matriarch fell victim to a mass shooting.
“She always believed in the underdog, she was a really strong woman,” her nephew Damone Mapps told PEOPLE. “She dedicated all her free time to helping others.”
Massey worked at Buffalo Blue Cross/Blue Shield for around 40 years before retiring about five years ago. She was on the Buffalo school board, wrote for local paperThe Challenger, tutored students, and put her time and money into the Cherry Street neighborhood where she spent her life.
She also proudly kept her focus on her beloved siblings, nieces, and nephews.
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“You would have loved her,” Mapps told PEOPLE. “If you met her, you would have liked her, no matter what race, color, or creed, it didn’t matter. Kat was just this beautiful heart.”
Additionally, Massey’s sister Barbara described her late sister as “a beautiful soul.”
Celestine Chaney, 65
Celestine Chaney.Charon Reed
Celestine Chaney had just marked both her 65th birthday and Mother’s Day, days before she was killed in Saturday’s mass shooting.
Her son Wayne Jones Jr. told PEOPLE he had celebrated his beloved mom with a homecooked meal and a sip and paint party the weekend before the tragedy. “We just enjoyed the evening,” he says.
As an only child of divorced parents, Jones says he and his mother shared an undeniably tight bond.
Although she loved shopping and playing bingo, he planned to surprise his mom with the gift of travel: a seven-day cruise to the eastern Caribbean, to show her just how much he loved her.
“My son, he wanted to go on a cruise for his birthday in December, and we was going to take her with us,” says Jones. “And she didn’t even know I was going to take her with us because I was going to surprise her and buy the ticket and have her come with us.”
In addition to Jones, Chaney leaves behind six grandchildren.
Geraldine Chapman Talley, 62
Geraldine Talley.Courtesy Divine Zamir
Buffalo resident Geraldine Chapman Talley raised two children, Genicia Talley, 42, and Mark Talley, 32, but was like a second mother to her niece, Kesha Chapman. So when Chapman heard that her beloved Auntie Gerri had been killed in the massacre, she jumped on a plane from Atlanta and headed straight to Buffalo. “Auntie Gerri was the sweetest person,” Chapman, 46, told PEOPLE. A gentle soul, Talley “loved everybody. She was always smiling. She didn’t like confrontation. She wanted everything to be easy and full of love.”
Chapman’s cousin, Tamika Harper, 44, of Buffalo, also thought of Talley as a second mother. “Our cousins are our sisters,” she says. “We are a very close-knit family.” Talley, who worked for years as an executive assistant and was famous for her mouth-watering cheesecake, stopped into Tops on Saturday with her fiancé to pick up food for dinner. “She was such a beautiful woman,” says Harper. “She would give you the shirt off her back. Why did this happen to her? Why?”
Chapman vows to work “to prevent this from ever happening again,” she says. “We don’t want this to happen anymore.” Adds Harper: “Our lives will never be the same.”
Aaron Salter, Jr., 55
AW SalterJr/Facebook
It wasn’t the first timeAaron Salter, Jr., a retired Buffalo police officer, had faced down a gunman. But it was the first time he went up against someone fully armed for combat. Working as a security guard at Tops Friendly Markets, Salter attempted to stop the killer.
“That’s why he’s known as a hero,” Salter’s cousin Irvin Salter, 60, told PEOPLE. “Serving and protecting, that’s what he was there to do. And he made a difference that enabled people to get away because it altered his plans.”
Aaron, a father of three who grew up in a family of musicians in Buffalo, was also known as an inventor who was working on a fuel alternative for vehicles.
“I was most interested in his inventions,” says his friend Roscoe Henderson. “Aaron is one of the most intelligent individuals I’ve every crossed paths with.”
“It’s sad when a person just passed away from natural causes, but when you die through someone that wants to eliminate a human being, it really touches home,” he shares.
Andre Mackneil, 53
Andre Mackneil.Facebook
“He never came out with the cake,” Mackneil’s cousin, Clarissa Alston-McCutcheon, told AP, adding that he was “just a loving and caring guy. Loved family. Was always there for his family.”
Margus D. Morrison, 52
Margus Morrison.Courtesy Morrison Family
Margus Morrison was the father of seven children, including a stepdaughter.
Life partner Regina Patterson told PEOPLE that Morrison was her “best friend.” When Patterson went to nursing school, Morrison stayed home to raise their three babies and her daughter, Cassandra Demps. “He was a good guy, and that the time, men weren’t staying home to be at-home dads,” Patterson says.
Demps says Morrison, who loved music and collected sneakers, was “a loving father, a loving partner, a best friend, humorous, and someone who will be truly, truly missed.”
Morrison worked as a bus monitor for Buffalo’s Stanley Makowski Early Childhood Center, and served as a reassuring presence to Liam Mielcarek, 5, who has autism, and other children with special needs. “Liam called him ‘my friend,'” says Liam’s mom, Elicia. “Mr. Morrison was a kind and helpful man.”
Roberta Drury, 32
Roberta Drury.Family Photo
Roberta was recently helping her brother recover from a bone marrow transplant.
While speaking toThe New York Times, her sister Amanda Drury said Roberta “was very vibrant.”
“She always was the center of attention and made the whole room smile and laugh,” Amanda added.
Heyward Patterson, 67
Courtesy Photo
During a vigil held to honor the victims, Patterson’s friend Tonie Sanders went to pay her respect, saying he was “a deacon and my best friend,” according toBuffalo News.
“He was a wonderful man, and I am so sad this happened,” she shared.
His family described Patterson as a loving person who leaves behind a wife and daughter.
source: people.com
