Survivors of Buffalo shooting gather to discuss funds and share experiences
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BUFFALO, N.Y. (WHEC) — A fund created for the survivors of the Buffalo mass shooting will soon distribute the money.
5/14 Survivors Fund, created by the National Compassion Fund and Tops supermarket, will distribute money to people who were at the grocery store during the shooting and the families of victims.
On Sunday, about half a dozen people who witness the attack gathered to tell their stories. A handful of people said they feel forgotten since that horrific day.
Robin Gray, who was in the store with her daughter during the shooting, told her heartbreaking story of survival and why she hopes to be compensated like other victims.
“I have a scar on my head from the head of the gun and, every day that I comb my hair, I see it, I feel it, I have pain in it,’ Gray said.
A fund created for the survivors of the Buffalo mass shooting will soon distribute the money.
“A mother should never have to tell her child this,” she said. “I’m gonna take the heat from the gun. And once it goes through me, it will barely touch you, just know that I was here for you. And she’s kicking me, telling me mom, no. I’ll die with you. What mother has to tell that to her child? I didn’t ask to be at Tops, I went to go shop. I didn’t ask for this to happen. I didn’t ask for the Compassion Fund to use me and say I’m category D.”
The deadline to apply for funding is September 14th and the money will go out on October 24th.
National Compassion is working with a committee in Buffalo to review applications and determine how the money will be distributed. In July, the committee released their final protocol detailing who’s eligible, which includes:
- People who were at Tops or in the parking lot during the shooting
- The legal heir of someone killed in the shooting
- Jefferson Avenue Tops employees who weren’t there during the shooting
- Anyone who was shot and survived
There is also a separate GoFundMe campaign for survivors who have not received funding yet.
It’s been three months since a white gunman fatally shot ten Black people at the Tops Supermarket on Jefferson Avenue, in an attack that police said was motivated by racism. The accused shooter was charged with several hate crimes.