BUFFALO, N.Y. — The funeral for 86-year-old Ruth Whitfield, the oldest and last of the victims of a gunman’s racist attack on a Buffalo supermarket to be laid to rest, was held on Saturday.
Among those in attendance was Vice President Kamala Harris.
Shortly after Harris’ motorcade arrived at Mt. Olive Baptist Church in Buffalo, she spent several minutes with members of Whitfield's family. She also spoke with the other families who lost loved ones in the recent Tops supermarket mass shooting, as well as to the gunshot victims who survived the attack, and their families about moving forward.
"It was a bittersweet moment,” said Zeneta Everhart, whose son survived the shooting. “It was nice to see her. It's a very sad reason why we're here. But we hope something good comes from it. I told her ‘we've got to get to work,’ and she said, ‘let's get to work.’ So that's what we're going to do."
Following the service, a number of dignitaries reiterated their support for the family.
"[We are here] to lift them up in prayer and celebrate the life of Mrs. Ruth Whitfield, 86 years old,” Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said. “[She was] a beloved member of her family, a beloved member of this community whose life was snuffed out senselessly by a white supremacist. Someone with hate in his heart, and hate in his head."
"My heart is actually broken for all of the people who lost their lives at the Tops on Jefferson, that I fought long and hard to get because it was a food desert,” Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes said. "And in the twinkle of a couple of bullets, it is a food desert again."
Brown and the Rev. Al Sharpton said they were glad to see Harris in Buffalo and called on the federal government to pass sensible gun control laws and tackle hate on social media.
"[It] shows the importance of these issues at the highest level of the American government,” Brown said. “[It] shows the resolve on behalf of the Biden-Harris administration."
"I think the presence of the president in Buffalo after it happened and the vice president here today shows how serious this is,” Sharpton said
New York City Mayor Eric Adams was in Buffalo, as well as civil rights advocate attorney Ben Crump, who showed their support for the family and condemned what they call an act of hate.
"And, yes, [it was an] act of domestic terrorism,” Crump said. “We have to say that over and over again so they don't marginalize how Ruth Whitfield was taken from this earth. The sin against the Buffalo 10 -- how they were taken from this Earth."
"There is a loud chorus across our country that is saying ‘enough is enough,’” Adams said. “And we're going to mobilize this country to move in a direction that our babies should not be shot while in school, that our loved ones should not be shot while in supermarkets."
Brown also says Tops has confirmed it's re-opening the supermarket. While there is no official timeline on the reopening, People-Stokes says she would hope it would reopen by the end of June.
"Our engineers and construction management team are working closely with local contractors and equipment suppliers to establish the quickest possible timeline for reopening," a Tops spokesperson said in a statement. "We hope to have a clearer understanding of that timeline in the coming weeks."