Coloradans gather for prayer vigil in memory of Buffalo shooting victims
DENVER — Community leaders from across the Denver metro area gathered May 17 at the bottom of the State Capitol steps to pray for the 10 victims of the racially motivated mass shooting in Buffalo, New York.
The shooting occurred May 14 at Tops Friendly Markets, a grocery store. The victims of the shooting were:
- Aaron Salter, 55
- Ruth Whitfield, 86
- Katherine "Kat" Massey, 72
- Pearly Young, 77
- Heyward Patterson, 67
- Celestine Chaney, 65
- Roberta Drury, 32
- Margus D. Morrison, 52
- Andre Mackneil, 53
- Geraldine Talley, 62
Natasha Vasquez lives in Denver's Park Hill neighborhood and came to the vigil to show her support. She was hoping more people would show up, but said that sometimes a massive crowd isn’t needed for significant change to happen.
“The crowd that showed up wasn’t huge, but it only takes one person to spark a flame," Vasquez said. "And the idea that someone would come in and take people grandmothers, grandfathers, friends, aunts and uncles and just take them away like that is just mind boggling.”
Most in the small crowd at the Capitol held the same sentiment that "enough is enough. Milford Adams, from Aurora, wondered how many more mass shootings it will take for actual change to happen.
“Our sons and daughters are dying in the streets our moms and dads can’t go grocery shopping without coming home," Adams cried out from the lectern. "Something is wrong with our nation. We the people are the ones that can heal this nation and bring the love back into it. Love will tear down the racial lines! Love will tear down injustice and discrimination and red lining! Love will tear that mess down.”
Topazz McBride works for the Denver Ministerial Alliance and lives in Aurora. She said when this type of violence happens, it is felt no matter how far away a person is from it. “The vicarious trauma is real, even when it happens all the way in New York and we’re here in Denver. The impact … because we continue to be gunned down, we continue to be murdered by our own and by whites so it’s almost like there’s no way out and there’s no escape from the violence,” McBride said.
According to investigators, the 18-year-old white suspect in the Buffalo shooting purposely targeted the mostly Black neighborhood where the grocery store was located. Officials said the shooter tried to kill as many Black people as possible, something the people at the prayer vigil describe as unconscionable.
The Washington Post reports that the shooter, according to writings he published online, planned the attack for months. He espoused the “great replacement theory,” a racist conspiracy theory popular among the far-right, including some politicians and popular television personalities that claims there is a plan to replace white Americans with immigrants and people of color.
[Related: How the 'replacement' theory went mainstream on the political right]
The prayer vigil in Colorado took place the same day President Joe Biden visited Buffalo, where he visited with victims' families and first responders.
“In America, evil will not win, I promise you,” Biden said at the event. “Hate will not prevail, white supremacy will not have the last word.”
Adams believes it is overdue for all of society to take responsibility.
“It’s time. This is a call to action. Pay attention to what your children are doing in their bedrooms. Look at their social medias, you are their parents. Where do we go from here? What are the solutions? We’ve got to work across color lines. It’s not about being Black, white, green, yellow, blue — that’s not what this is about, we are the United States. We live in the United States, we are citizens of the highest nation and we can’t figure this out?”
Dana Knowles is a multimedia journalist at Rocky Mountain PBS. You can reach her at danaknowles@rmpbs.org.
Lindsey Ford is a multimedia journalist at Rocky Mountain PBS. You can reach her at lindseyford@rmpbs.org.