BUFFALO, N.Y. — On Monday, the Buffalo community is marking six months since 10 people were shot and killed on May 14 at the Tops grocery store on Jefferson Avenue. Three others were injured.
Survivors and families of the victims and city leaders have advocated for reforms to gun laws in the time since then.
Zeneta Everhart, the mother of Zaire Goodman, who was shot and survived, believes their testimony in front of congressional committees led to change.
"I believe they heard us, saw our pain," said Everhart. "When I wrote my testimony, I wanted them to see us as humans. We work every day, we go to school, we live like normal human beings."
Everhart is also advocating for systemic change in communities similar to East Buffalo. She's calling for improvements to housing, education and access to food.
When it comes to moving on from the shooting, she says it's not something you just stop remembering, and the pain remains.
"I don't think anyone could really say is everyone doing good?" Everhart said. "We don't know, what is good? What is good after a terrorist storms your community? What does that even look like? [The] anxiety of getting back to normal, what does that look like?"
Everhart says Zaire is getting better while continuing to live with the impact of that day. She says people continue to reach out to her son with well wishes and gifts.
Aaron Salter, Andre Mackniel, Celestine Chaney, Geraldine Talley, Heyward Patterson, Katherine Massey, Margus Morrison, Pearl Young, Roberta Drury and Ruth Whitfield were all killed when a gunman, from outside the area, traveled to East Buffalo and opened fire at the supermarket.
Mayor Byron Brown encouraged city employees and residents to remember the victims by wearing orange on Monday and pausing for a moment of reflection at 2:20 p.m., the time when the shooting took place.