The victims: What we know about those killed, injured in Buffalo shooting

The Buffalo News
<p>A person holds a flower as a group prays outside of the scene of a shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y., Sunday, May 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)</p>

Matt Rourke

A person holds a flower as a group prays outside of the scene of a shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y., Sunday, May 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Kat Massey, Pearl Young, Roberta Drury, Ruth Whitfield and Celestine Chaney were doing their grocery shopping.

Aaron Salter was a security guard who gave his last breath trying to save the lives of the people inside the store.

Complete coverage: 10 killed, 3 wounded in mass shooting in Buffalo supermarket

Heyward Patterson was ferrying shoppers who didn’t have their own cars to and from the Tops Markets on Jefferson Avenue in the heart of the East Side of Buffalo.

They were just doing ordinary things on a beautiful summerlike spring day, until a man armed with a high-power rifle drove three hours to Buffalo and killed them one by one in the parking lot and then inside the store.

All 10 of the victims who were killed were Black, said Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn Jr. The suspect is white. The killings are being investigated as a racist hate crime.

Now, Buffalo is discovering their names, seeing their faces and beginning to learn just how much a killer took away:

Aaron W. Salter, 55: A beloved security guard at the Tops store, he attempted to stop the shooter and was described by Buffalo Police Chief Joseph Gramaglia as “a hero in our eyes.” 

Ruth Whitfield, 86: “She was a blessing to all of us,” said her son, retired Buffalo Fire Commissioner Garnell W. Whitfield. “She loved God and taught us to do the same thing.”

Katherine Massey, 72: An ardent advocate for civil rights and education who, according to her friend and former Erie County Legislator Betty Jean Grant, did everything she could to lift up Buffalo’s Black community.

<p>This photo dated Oct. 24, 2011 shows Katherine Massey walking near the corner of Elmwood and Tupper in Buffalo, N.Y. Massey was one of the victims killed in the grocery store shooting in Buffalo on Saturday. Her sister calls her "a beautiful soul." </p>

Robert Kirkham/The Buffalo News via AP

This photo dated Oct. 24, 2011 shows Katherine Massey walking near the corner of Elmwood and Tupper in Buffalo, N.Y. Massey was one of the victims killed in the grocery store shooting in Buffalo on Saturday. Her sister calls her "a beautiful soul." 

Roberta Drury, 31: “She was just a young girl, had a lot of love to give,” said Dezzelynn McDuffie.

Heyward Patterson, 67: People knew him as a “jitney” who would give people rides to and from Tops and help them with their groceries.

Pearl Young, 77: “Even if it was nothing but soup and bread, whatever she could do, she would just always avail herself to help the people,” her brother-in-law, Bishop Glenwood H. Young said. “That’s what she was noted for. … Her life was full of giving.”

Celestine Chaney, 65: More than anything, she relished being a grandmother. Her grandchildren, ranging in age from 4 to 28, kept her more than occupied.

Geraldine Talley, 62.

Andre Mackniel, 53.

Margus D. Morrison, 52.

The injured:

Christopher Braden, 55, who was still in stable condition, sources told The News.

Zaire Goodman, 20 (treated and released from Erie County Medical Center), a City Honors graduate who survived a bullet through his neck and back while collecting shopping carts in the parking lot.

Jennifer Warrington, 50 (treated and released from ECMC), a pharmacist at the supermarket.

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