Jacksonville shooting brings back dark memories for Buffalo residents
A racist attack that killed three Black people at a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Florida, on Saturday resurfaced anguish and frustration among residents of Buffalo, New York, whose community was also altered after a gunman opened fire at a Tops supermarket in May 2022.
A racist attack that killed three Black people at a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Florida, on Saturday resurfaced anguish and frustration among residents of Buffalo, New York, whose community was also altered after a gunman opened fire at a Tops supermarket in May 2022.
The shooter in Jacksonville, a 21-year-old white man, “hated Black people” and left behind a vitriolic white supremacist document, Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said. In Buffalo, the 18-year-old gunman responsible for killing 10 Black people orchestrated the attack “for the future of the White race,” according to a federal criminal complaint.
News of the Jacksonville shooting hit close to the heart for Cashell Durham. Her brother, Aaron Salter, was killed after he ran inside the store to warn others about the approaching gunman.
“I still have not been back to that Tops since that incident, and the store is still open,” Durham said. “It’s about three or four blocks away from where I live. I still haven’t been able to go.”
She never thought about mass shootings until one touched her own family.
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