BUFFALO, N.Y. — As more details come out about the mass shooting in Maine, many can't help but feel heartbroken and frustrated. That couldn't be more true for the surviving family of victims of the Buffalo mass shooting.
Geraldine Talley was one of the 10 people murdered that May afternoon in 2022 while grocery shopping at the Tops store on Jefferson Avenue. They were targeted because of the color of their skin.
Since then, Geraldine's son Mark has been outspoken on gun violence, and racism, and has been holding social media companies accountable for radicalizing people.
"I remember the first time somebody asked what I think about mass shootings, I said 'it was as American as apple pie, American as baseball.' And unfortunately, this is further proven to be true," said Mark.
He goes on to say it doesn't matter how strict a state's gun laws are: If people want them, he said, they'll get them. When asked what he would say to the families impacted by the shooting in Maine, it's clear he's still coming to terms with more families feeling the same pain and anguish as his.
"No, unfortunately, I really can't say anything," Mark said. "You know, 29 families have just got impacted by them, by a man who, self-proclaimed, has mental issues. And unfortunately, this man ... he was able to get his hands on a semiautomatic rifle and shoot all of those people."
Since we spoke to Talley, that number has risen to 31 families impacted.
These families are continuing a fight of their own to hold social media, gun and armor manufacturers accountable following the death of their loved ones through a handful of civil suits.
