The Auburn community is remembering Andre Mackniel, one of the 10 lives lost in the Buffalo mass shooting on Saturday.

Mackniel was reportedly purchasing a birthday cake for his young son when his life was taken.

“Andre was the kind of guy who would help you in any way he could," said Brian Muldrow, a Cayuga County legislator and Mackniel's friend. "He would give you his last dollar. If you needed help moving, he would be the one to help you. He was just a person that cared about his family deeply.”

Big on celebrating birthdays, Muldrow said he was not surprised to hear that Mackniel spent Saturday working to make sure his son had a good one.

“He cared a lot about his newborn son, and being a part of his children’s lives," Muldrow said. "He was a good guy.”

Other friends and former co-workers from around the Auburn area echoed the sentiment, with one describing a man with a big heart who would do anything for anyone.

Another former co-worker called him gentle and a good worker.

Auburn Police Chief James Slayton, who attended a recent memorial for Mackniel, said in a smaller community like Auburn, tragedies seem to hit extra hard.

“We are a small community, and knowing that one of our members was shot and killed tragically definitely has an impact, because there is so many people who know the person, or knows a family member,” he said.

Muldrow, who met Mackniel through a close friendship with his brother, said he hopes that Mackniel’s activism and rejection of hate in his own life is a message that will overpower the tragedy that took place in Buffalo.

“He definitely stood against this type of evil. The thing that he would want to do is to have conversations and progressions so that we can stop this kind of violence and hatred,” Muldrow said.