What we know so far about the victims of the Buffalo mass shooting

Officials and family members have begun to release the identities of the 10 people killed in a mass shooting at a Buffalo supermarket on Saturday.

Police said the accused gunman shot, in total, 11 Black people and two white people Saturday in a rampage that was broadcast live online, before he surrendered to authorities.

Katherine Massey

Katherine Massey was shopping for groceries when she was killed. Her sister, Barbara Massey, called her "a beautiful soul," in a text message to a reporter.

The 72-year-old was an advocate for the Black community in Buffalo, according to the Buffalo News. The newspaper said she frequently wrote letters to them — including one last year arguing for more federal action and legislation to address gun violence.

Roberta Drury

Roberta Drury was "vibrant, outgoing and could talk to anyone," her older sister Amanda Drury told CBC News, confirming her sister's death.

The 32-year-old had moved from the family's hometown of Syracuse, N.Y., to Buffalo around 2010 to be with her older brother after he underwent a bone marrow transplant for leukemia, helping him with his bar — The Dalmatia — and with his family, Amanda Drury told Reuters.

Pearly Young

Pearly Young ran a food pantry in Buffalo's Central Park neighbourhood for 25 years, according to a tweet from reporter Madison Carter, who works for an NBC affiliate.

The 77-year-old was a grandmother and missionary who loved "singing, dancing" and being with family, Carter wrote.

Heyward Patterson

Heyward Patterson, 67, was a deacon at a nearby church. He'd gone by the church's soup kitchen before heading to the supermarket, where he offered an informal taxi service, driving people home with their bags.

"From what I understand, he was assisting somebody putting their groceries in their car when he was shot and killed," said Pastor Russell Bell of State Tabernacle Church of God in Christ.

Bell said Patterson would clean the church and do anything else that was needed.

"He would meet my wife and I at the door and escort us to the office. We never required him or asked him to do it. He just did it out of love," Bell said.

Services at the church went on as usual Sunday, but Bell said it was difficult.

"It was quite a struggle, we had to get through it and our hearts are broken," he said. "Deacon Patterson was a man who loved people. He loved the community just as much as he loved the church."

Celestine Chaney

Celestine Chaney, a 65-year-old grandmother of six, went to the Tops supermarket with her sister to buy strawberries to make shortcakes, her son, Wayne Jones, told the New York Times.

Chaney's sister managed to hide in a cooler during the shooting, Jones said.

Aaron Salter

Security guard Aaron Salter fired multiple shots at the gunman, hitting his armour at least once, before Salter himself was shot and killed, Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia confirmed.

"He's a true hero," Gramaglia said Sunday. "There could have been more victims if not for his actions."

Salter, whose age is listed as 55 in record databases, was a retired Buffalo police officer who locals described as a beloved community member who knew the shoppers of Tops Friendly Market by name.

"He cared about the community. He looked after the store," said Yvette Mack, who had shopped at Tops on Saturday before the shooting.

She remembered him as someone who "let us know if we was right or wrong."

Mack would walk to the store to play lottery numbers and shop and said she spoke to Salter shortly before the shooting.

"I was playing my numbers. He said, 'I see you're playing your numbers!' I laughed. And he was playing his numbers, too. Can you imagine seeing someone and you don't know he's not going to go home?

Ruth Whitfield

Ruth Whitfield, 86, was the mother of retired Buffalo fire commissioner Garnell Whitfield, who was seen at the shooting scene Saturday, looking for his mother. She was confirmed as a victim later in the day.

Ruth Whitfield had just returned from visiting her husband at a nursing home, as she did every day, when she stopped in at Tops to buy a few groceries and was killed, her son told The Buffalo News.

She was "a mother to the motherless" and "a blessing to all of us," her son said. He attributed her strength and commitment to family to her strong religious faith.

"She inspired me to be a man of God, and to do whatever I do the best I could do. I wouldn't have been able to do it without her," Whitfield said.

WATCH | N.Y. congressman calls for action:

'We have to do better,' N.Y. congressman says after Buffalo mass shooting

3 years ago

Duration 5:09

New York Rep. Brian Higgins says more needs to be done after a racially motivated mass shooting by a white gunman killed 10 people and wounded three others in Buffalo on Saturday.

Andre Mackniel

Andre Mackneil, 53, of Auburn, New York, was in town visiting relatives and was picking up a surprise birthday cake for his grandson.

"He never came out with the cake," Clarissa Alston-McCutcheon said of her cousin. She said this sort of surprise was typical for him. He was "just a loving and caring guy. Loved family. Was always there for his family."

Margus Morrison

Margus Morrison, 52, was a father of three from Buffalo, his mother told ABC 7 Buffalo. Since 2019, he worked as a bus aide for a local Buffalo school, USA Today reported.

Geraldine Talley

Talley, 62, from Buffalo, was one of nine siblings, her younger sister, Kaye Chapman-Johnson, told ABC News. She had a longtime career as an executive assistant and was known for her smile and her cheesecake, People reported.