Memorial design for Buffalo shooting victims revealed

On Monday, officials previewed a memorial structure aimed at ensuring neither they nor the horror of that day will ever be forgotten.

The final design for a permanent memorial honoring the victims of the May 14, 2022 racist mass shooting at Tops Markets on Jefferson Avenue was unveiled by Governor Kathy Hochul, Mayor Byron W. Brown and the May 14 Memorial Commission during a ceremony inside the Apollo Media Center, 1346 Jefferson Ave.

The permanent memorial is expected to cost nearly $15 million.

The unveiling of the proposed memorial, titled “Seeing Us,” came a day before the second anniversary of the tragedy in which 10 people were killed and three were injured. The project, created by Jin Young Song, associate professor in the Department of Architecture at the University at Buffalo, architect and partner of the Bjarke Ingels Group, was chosen from 20 submissions made to the 5/14 Memorial Commission, which had reduced to three. finalists.

The creation of the project followed a process that included public meetings and a community survey in which the public was encouraged to share their thoughts on the look and feel of the memorial, according to the governor.

The memorial site has not been chosen.

“As you can see, it contains 10 interconnected pillars on which the names of the 10 victims are inscribed, and it will also include a new building which will be a central hub for education, exhibitions, community activities and events,” Hochul said.

The monument will honor the memory of the 10 murdered victims: Aaron Salter Jr.; Celestine Chaney; Roberta A. Drury; André Mackniel; Katherine Massey; Margus D. Morrison; Heyward Patterson; Geraldine Talley; Pearl Young; and Ruth Whitfield. The injured survivors of the attack include Zaire Goodman, Jennifer Warrington and Christopher Braden.

“This tragedy shocked us. It devastated us. It pushed us to what we thought was beyond our limits, but it didn’t break us,” Hochul said of the mass shooting. “Instead, it revealed a force that runs deep in the veins of this city. »

She and Brown also announced that the commission would embark on a yearlong fundraising campaign to raise the remaining funds needed to dedicate the memorial. And she announced that an additional $4.1 million in state funds would be allocated to the memorial, bringing the state’s total contribution to $5 million.

Brown said he was confident the 5/14 Memorial Commission would create a fitting memorial to honor the lives lost and the many others who were transformed that day.

“We will never forget. I hope that with this May 14 memorial we can offer some sense of healing, peace and hope for the future,” Brown said.

Brown said the four chairs of this fundraising committee are SUNY trustee Eunice Lewin; Jonathan Dandes, Rich Products, corporate vice president of government relations and special projects; Dottie Gallagher, president and CEO of the Buffalo-Niagara Partnership; and Dr. Michael Edbauer, president of Highmark Western and Northeastern New York.

Rev. Mark Blue, chairman of the 5/14 Memorial Commission, spoke of the bond created between members of the 11-member commission, established by Hochul and Brown in October 2022.

“We had some moving encounters. We had tearful meetings. We had some laughing encounters. We formed a bond that will never be broken through this experience,” Blue said.

“This tragedy has brought us closer together in more ways than one,” he added. “I am so proud of our city and our community.”