Buffalo mayor says community has "tremendous sense of purpose" one year after supermarket mass shooting
Sunday will mark exactly one year since a white supremacist gunman killed 10 people, all of them Black, at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York. The city's mayor, Byron Brown, told CBS News the pain from the attack at Tops Friendly Markets still simmers with him and the rest of Buffalo.
"The city is continuing to heal this weekend, to reflect and remember this horrible mass shooting motivated by racial hatred," Brown said. "I have certainly felt the trauma of this horrific event. There are many days that I feel the pain and sorrow very deeply, it's just below the surface. But I am highly motivated to work with the families of those whose lives were taken, the survivors and the members of our community, to fight for meaningful change on sensible gun reform, on battling white supremacy, on reining in social media so that people cannot be radicalized in the different ways of hate on social media. So there is a tremendous sense of purpose in our community."
The mayor said he hopes Buffalo's recovery can be a model for other cities that suffer similar tragedies, specifically fighting against white supremacy. But he noted the grim statistics that show mass shootings have become part of American life.
"Unfortunately, we have seen too many of these mass shootings in communities all across America," Brown said. "This is day 134 of 2023, already over 200 mass shootings in the United States of America. And since 5/14, 2022, in Buffalo, over 650 mass shootings in this country."
Republicans in Congress and state houses across the country have continued to block efforts on gun control legislation. Meanwhile, new research shows gun violence in the country has become more fatal.
In Buffalo, one survivor of last year's mass shooting and the families of three people killed have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against multiple social media platforms they say helped radicalized the killer via racist, violent content. They're also suing the manufacturer of the body armor the killer wore, the gun shop that sold him the weapon, and the killer's parents.
Also listed in the lawsuit is the customs firearms manufacturer that made the removable lock allowing the killer to use an illegal high-capacity magazine. New York's attorney general has filed a separate lawsuit against that company as well.
Mayor Brown says he's continuing to fight for change, crediting faith, family, friends and a very supportive community in Buffalo with getting him through tough times.
"Buffalo is a strong and resilient community," Brown said. "Through all of these challenges, the community has wrapped its arms around each other, lifted each other up. And I am just very proud to be the mayor of a city like Buffalo, New York."
