Names Of Buffalo Mass Shooting Victims Etched Into Bricks At Local Church
The ten victims of the Buffalo, New York mass shooting are being honored at a local church.
According to WGRZ, their names are etched in bricks at a memorial courtyard at the Holy Trinity Lutheran church on Main Street in Buffalo. An unknown visitor paid for the costs to engrave the names, which includes Katherine Massey, Heyward Patterson, Celestine Chaney, Andre Mackniel, Margus Morrison, Pearl Young, Geraldine Talley, Roberta Drury, Ruth Whitfield, and Aaron Salter.
Pastor Dr. Julius Carroll said in a statement, "After the massacre, we asked the question what could we do in partnership? We sent six counselors from our church that are therapists to help for a month over there at the center... and so we do this dedication of bricks periodically and then we received this donation from an anonymous person with the gift to remember and the bricks to remember those who were victims of the massacre.”
On May 14, 18-year-old Payton Gendron entered the Tops Friendly Markets store with an assault rifle and began to open fire. Gendron killed 10 Black people in an alleged racially-motivated attack.
On May 18, the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act passed the Democratic-controlled House in a 222-203 party-line vote with just one Republican joining Democrats. Two days later, Senate Republicans blocked the bill, which would have enhanced federal resources to prevent domestic terrorism.
On June 1, Genron was indicted by a grand jury on a state domestic terrorism and hate crime charge. It carries a mandatory life sentence in prison.
Payton Gendron has pleaded not guilty to two dozen new charges in the attack.
