Katherin “Kat” Massey, 72, a longtime Buffalo-area civil rights activist, was among 10 people killed when a suspected white supremacist opened fire at a supermarket on May 14, according to The Buffalo News.

“Currently sought remedies primarily inspired by the massacres—namely, universal background checks and an assault weapons ban—essentially exclude the sources of our city’s gun problems. Illegal handguns, via out-of-state arms trafficking, are the primary culprits,” she wrote.

Former Erie County Legislator Betty Jean Grant said Massey was “unapologetic about making sure our community wasn’t ignored.”

President Joe Biden has called on Americans to work together to fight white supremacy and hate-fueled violence – a ‘stain on America’s soul’ – following a seemingly racist massacre in which an 18-year-old suspected gunman espoused anti-Semitic and racist views before killing 10 people and injuring at least three others at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York. Eleven of the victims are black.

Businesses in the Buffalo, N.Y., area will pay funeral costs for the 10 people killed Saturday in an apparent racist massacre, according to local officials.

Al Sharpton and the National Action Network will also provide financial assistance for funeral costs.

Governor Kathy Hochul also said ride-sharing platforms Uber and Lyft will help residents get to nearby grocery stores while the Tops Friendly Market — the site of the murders — is temporarily closed. She said its closure made the predominantly black neighborhood a food wasteland.

“Anyone who dares break the security that every citizen is entitled to … you just fought 20 million New Yorkers,” the governor said during a Sunday afternoon press briefing.

Erie County Sheriff John Garcia told reporters on Sunday that suspected gunman Payton Gendron — who remains jailed after pleading not guilty to killing 10 people on Saturday — is under watch.

He is being held in a separate unit from other inmates, according to Sheriff Garcia.

Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia has confirmed reports that suspected Buffalo mass shooter Payton Gendron made a ‘widespread threat’ to Susquehanna Valley Central High School last June and was brought in for a mental health assessment.

The police chief and New York officials provided an update on the case on Sunday afternoon.

“The evidence we have uncovered so far leaves no doubt that this is an outright racist hate crime,” Gramaglia said. “He will be prosecuted as a hate crime.”

In an address to the National Peace Officers’ Memorial Service on Sunday afternoon, President Joe Biden addressed the Buffalo mass shooting, in which “a lone gunman armed with weapons of war and a hate-filled soul shot and killed 10 innocent people in cold blood at a grocery store on Saturday afternoon.

He said that while law enforcement and the US Department of Justice are still gathering facts in the case, which is being investigated as a hate crime and “an act of white supremacy and racially motivated violent extremism,” he called on Americans to “work together to tackle the hatred that remains a stain on America’s soul.

“Our hearts are heavy again but our resolve must never waver,” he said.

Vice President Kamala Harris said “our hearts are broken and we mourn for the victims of the horrific act of gun violence in Buffalo and for their families and friends” in a statement the morning after the mass shooting in Buffalo.

“The Second Gentleman and I pray for everyone who has known and lost loved ones,” she said.

The vice president added that “what is clear is that we are witnessing an epidemic of hatred across our country that has manifested itself in acts of violence and intolerance.”

“We must denounce it and condemn it. Racially motivated hate crimes or acts of violent extremism are wrongs against all of us, and we must do all we can to ensure our communities are safe from such acts,” she said. declared.

At least four of the 10 people killed in a mass shooting described as an act of ‘pure evil’ motivated by hatred of white supremacy have been identified, according to The Buffalo News and The New York Times.

The Independent reported that retired police officer Aaron Salter, a security guard at the supermarket where the shooting took place, was described by his son and Buffalo Police Chief Joseph Gramaglia as “a hero” .

Ruth Whitfield, grandmother of eight grandchildren and mother of four, “loved unconditionally” and was a member of her church choir.

“She has been a blessing to all of us,” said her son, retired Buffalo Fire Marshal Garnell W Whitfield. The Buffalo News. “She loved God and taught us to do the same.”

Katherine Massey, another customer at the store, was described as a “beautiful soul”.

The New York Times also identified Roberta Drury, 32, among the victims. She was at the store buying groceries to cook dinner. “She was always the center of attention and made the whole room smile and laugh,” her sister told the newspaper.

A racist theory espoused by several mass shooters, right-wing figures and Fox News personalities resonates in a manifesto written by the alleged gunman during Saturday’s racist massacre in Buffalo.

White supremacy ideology and the conspiracy theory that Democrats seek to increase political power to “replace” Americans with immigrants have reached the halls of Congress and been a mainstay for Congressman Tucker Carlson. most-watched cable news in the United States.

Here’s Mr. Carlson on his platform just a year ago: “I know the left and all the little Twitter gatekeepers literally go hysterical if you use the term ‘replacement’, if you suggest the Democratic Party is trying to replace the current electorate, voters now voting, along with new people, more obedient Third World voters. But they get hysterical because that’s what’s really happening. Let’s just say it: it’s true.

At the time, critics warned his remarks had “lethal significance”, but the conspiracy theory proliferated in American politics.

A former Donald Trump administration official now warns that the rhetoric is “directly fueling violence and a spike in domestic terrorism”.

According to Mayor Byron Brown, Payton Gendron spent time in Buffalo “scouting” the supermarket as he planned a massacre in the predominantly black neighborhood.

“Looks like he’s been here for maybe several days from the reports I’ve heard that he’s been scouting this community, scouting the supermarket, actually talking to some people in the area,” he told CNN.

Gov. Kathy Hochul said law enforcement believed Gendron, who pleaded not guilty to murdering 10 people on Saturday, “targeted the busiest location at one of the busiest times.”

“It was targeted by the zip code,” she told the network. “It was the highest concentration of African Americans in a few hours.”

This characterization is also consistent with an alleged manifesto posted by the suspect online. Gendron traveled more than 200 miles for about three hours from Broome County, police said.

Black residents make up about 78% of the population in the ZIP code where Tops Supermarket is located, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.