'You will reap what you sow': Families of victims of Tops shooting confront the man who killed their loved ones

The families of the men and women who lost their lives on May 14 at the Tops Supermarket on Jefferson Avenue came together Wednesday to stand in the same room as the man who killed them.

One by one, they prepared to tell him about the lives he took and the pain he caused that will never go away.

Shortly after it began, the proceeding was halted when a man lunged at the defendant, Payton Gendron as one of the family members of the victims spoke. Erie County Judge Susan Eagan had Gendron renoved from her courtroom while order was restored.

Kimberly Salter, the wife of Aaron Salter, was the first family member to address the court.

"We wear red and black – red for the blood that he shed for his family and his community, and black because we are still grieving," she said.

She turned to Scripture in her words to the court.

“You will reap what you sow, more than you sow,” she said, and she also read the 35th Psalm.

“My soul shall be joyful in the Lord,” she said. "Oh Lord do not be far from me."

Gendron will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, after pleading guilty in November to domestic terrorism motivated by hate.

Ruth Whitfield’s granddaughter, Simone Crowley said her grandmother will not be present for milestones, but Gendron will go from a name to a number.

“You will be nameless and faceless and we feel sorry for you,” she said. “Your life was meaningless before May 14, 2022.”

She told Gendron that he did not value himself.

“You thought you broke us, but you awakened us. We are here to tell you that you failed,” she said.

“Our dear grandmother, Ruth Elizabeth Whitfield, she taught us the power of love and even in our darkest hour, we will assure that her legacy will be that,” she said.

Wayne Jones spoke for his mother, Celestine Chaney.

“I watched you kill my mother,” he said. “I watched you shoot her once, reload, and shoot her again.”

He said there are big and little mistakes.

"This one here is a real big one that you can't take back,” he said.

He told Gendron he wants him to remember his mother’s name, and what he did.

“And I feel sorry for your parents, you will never get to hug them again. You will never get to see your grandparents," he said. "I hope they keep you alive so you have to suffer for the rest of your life."

Jones said he had seen Gendron at previous hearings.

"You look like a young man that could be anyone's son," he said. "You don't come across to me as a racist killer, even though that what you have done.

"I have a child your age," he added. "You've been brainwashed. The internet is the issue. You're only 18. You don't even know Black people that much to hate them. You learned this on the internet.

"I don't wish the death penalty on you," he said. "I wish they keep you alive, so you have to suffer with the thought of what you did the rest of your life."

Brian Talley, who said he watched the video of his sister-in-law Geraldine Talley being killed, said he wanted to be sure he said the killer's name.

"Payton Gendron. Payton Gendron. The reason I mention your name is because so many have said not to mention your name. You need to be known worldwide," he said. What can you possibly say after putting on a video of killing people? Your words don't mean anything."

Talley said he picked a drab green shirt to wear to the hearing to remind Gendron of the prison garb he will wear the rest of his life. "I know where you're going," Talley said, "in solitary confinement the rest of  your life." 

Stephanie Waters spoke for her sister, Jennifer Warrington, a pharmacist at the store who was injured. She said she got a call from her sister when she was on a Zoom call.

"She said 'Steph, I'm in an ambulance,' " Waters said. "I roared in pain for my sister, my beautiful sister." Waters, who is white, told Gendron, a white supremacist, to consider that he was wrong. "Diversity makes us strong. We are stronger together."

"I'll never forgive you," said the daughter of Andre Mackniel. "It wasn't my dad's time to go."

More than a dozen people were expected to address the court today. Gendron also is expected to apologize before he is sentenced.

There is very heavy security around the courthouse today, with a second layer of screening for those entering the courtroom of Erie County Court Judge Susan Eagan. A large media presence is in Buffalo, with representatives of New York Times, Reuters, CBS, CNN, AP and NPR attending.