Buffalo.- The city of Buffalo will pause this Sunday to commemorate the passing of a year since a gunman killed 10 people and injured three others in a racist attack directed against the African-American population in a supermarket in the city.
A moment of silence followed by the pealing of church bells at 2:28 p.m. will honor the victims of the massacre at Tops Friendly Market on May 14, 2022.
“The racially motivated mass shooting shook our community to the core. It was the day the unthinkable happened,” Mayor Byron Brown said in announcing plans for the commemoration, which will be held at the now-reopened supermarket.
Earlier in the week, panelists discussed ways to combat racism and radicalization on social media, and residents were invited to reflect at an outdoor community gathering.
In the year since the shooting, relatives of the victims have spoken before Congress about white supremacy and gun reform, and have organized rallies to address food insecurity that worsened when the market, the only grocery store neighborhood, was inaccessible for two months.
President Joe Biden paid tribute to the lives of those killed in Buffalo in an opinion piece published Sunday in USA Today. He called on Congress and state legislative leaders to act by banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, requiring background checks for all gun sales, and revoking gun manufacturers’ immunity from liability. His administration passed a landmark gun measure in June following a series of mass shootings.
New York State law already prohibits the possession of magazines with more than 10 rounds of ammunition.
Gun control organizations and advocates like Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action held nearly 200 rallies across the country over the weekend, calling on Congress to reinstate a bipartisan ban on assault weapons.
