Devout Christians among 10 killed by shooter at Buffalo grocery store in racially motivated attack.
Buffalo Police on scene at a Tops Friendly Market on May 14, 2022, in Buffalo, New York. At least 10 people were killed after a mass shooting at the store with the shooter in police custody. | John Normile/Getty ImagesA heavily armed 18-year-old man opened fire at a grocery store in a predominantly black neighborhood in Buffalo, New York, Saturday, killing 10 people, including at least two Christian believers, and wounding three others in what the FBI described as a racially motivated hate crime. The self-described white supremacist shooter livestreamed the massacre before surrendering to police.
An 18-year-old white man wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying an assault-style rifle shot 13 people — two white and 11 black — at Tops Friendly Markets in Buffalo while livestreaming the attack in real time on the social media platform Twitch, Reuters reported.
The suspect, identified as Payton Gendron of Conklin, New York, near the Pennsylvania border, who was reportedly a student at the State University of New York’s Broome Community College near Binghamton, drove several hours to come to Buffalo for the attack.
Three people were killed at the supermarket’s parking lot and the seven others inside the store, including four store employees. The three who suffered injuries were said to be in stable condition.
At least two of those killed were Christian believers: 77-year-old Pearly Young and 86-year-old Ruth Whitfield.
“You were so sweet and beautiful on the inside and out! YOU REALLY DID LOVE THE LORD!!!!” wrote one Jimmie Smith on social media about Young’s killing.
Reporter Madison Carter tweeted, "For 25 years she ran a pantry where every Saturday she fed people in Central Park. Every. Saturday. She loved singing, dancing, & being with family. She was mother, grandma, & missionary. Gone too soon.” CP
