Nearly five months after a gunman killed 10 people in a Tops Supermarket in Buffalo, New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Friday that a monument will be built in East Buffalo to memorialize the victims.
All 10 people killed in the mass shooting were Black, which authorities alleged was a "racially motivated hate crime." The 18-year-old suspect has been charged in federal and state courts.
The victims ranged in age from 32 to 86, according to law enforcement officials.
The monument will be developed by a commission called the May 14 Memorial Commission, which will be chaired by the Rev. Mark E. Blue. The commission will be in charge of citing and acquiring land; engaging with victims' families and surrounding communities for input and architectural design concepts; securing funds; and maintenance of the memorial.
The memorial will be designed by people who will be "sensitive to what the families want," Hochul said at a press conference.
Funds for the memorial will come from the city, state and private individuals and companies, according to Hochul.
Hochul said she will not put a deadline on when the memorial will be ready, but said this is something she wants to see "move forward quickly."
"I hope people will leave there with resolve in their heart that we must continue our fight to remove guns and not allow teenagers to be able to buy an AR-15 and go across the border to Pennsylvania and to buy a high-capacity magazine and be capable of a military-style assault weapon that could slaughter our beloved family members," Hochul said, speaking of the memorial.
A memorial to the victims of a racially-motivated mass shooting at a Tops Friendly Markets in Buffalo, N.Y., remains on a lawn near the store, even as it is back open to customers, July 26, 2022.
The Washington Post via Getty Images
Earlier this week, the New York Attorney General's Office released a scathing report accusing dark web platforms of "radicalizing" the teenage suspect. The report said the accused shooter consumed large amounts of racist and violent content before broadcasting the deadly attack online.
Hochul said social media platforms on the dark web have a lot of protections under federal laws, which creates a barrier preventing officials from being able to prevent this kind of radicalizing online activity.
"It is sick when you think about it, but it's happening every single day on social media," Hochul said Friday.
