Cedric Holloway, the director of the Johnnie B Wiley Pavilion, was inside the community center with more than a dozen kids and teenagers when they heard gunshots at the nearby supermarket.
“It scared the stink out of me,” Holloway said.
He said he directed the teens to stay inside the community center, where they drank Loganberry and watched TV news coverage of the police scene one block over.
“What’s unfortunate,” he said of the teens, “they’re desensitized to this type of stuff. They’re used to it.”
Holloway was urging an air of calm after the shooting, though he said he often has to speak frankly to the teens about the dangers of guns.
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“It’s important that they know it’s out there. You can’t shield them from the real world.”
Holloway, a retired member of the Buffalo Police SWAT team, said active shooters look for “target-rich environments” where they can kill the greatest number of people.
“What’s a softer target than a supermarket on a Saturday morning?” he said.
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