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The Buffalo Bills and the NFL have pledged sizable donations to the local community in the wake of a racially-motivated mass shooting at a Buffalo grocery store.
The Buffalo Bills Foundation and the NFL Foundation are combining to donate $400,000 ($200,000 each) to the Buffalo Together Community Response Fund, which was set up in response to the shooting last Saturday (May 14) in an effort to build upon "our collective desire to take action and to work to address immediate needs in our community, long-term community rebuilding, and systemic issues that have marginalized communities of color."
"On behalf of the Buffalo Together Community Response Fund, we are most grateful for the generous contributions from the Buffalo Bills Foundation and the National Football League Foundation that will allow us to create real change and emerge from the darkness of this heinous act," said Clotilde Perez-Bode Dedecker, President and CEO of the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, via BuffaloBills.com. "This Fund is a partnership to build upon the collective desire to take action and to work together as a community to address immediate needs, long-term rebuilding and systemic issues that continue to marginalize communities of color."
Additionally, head coach Sean McDermott, quarterback Josh Allen, wide receiver Stefon Diggs and other members of the team -- as well as players from the Buffalo Sabres and Buffalo Bandits -- served food and volunteered on Jefferson Avenue on Wednesday (May 18), WKBW sports director Matthew Bové reports.
A mass shooting at a Tops supermarket resulted in 10 deaths and three others experiencing injuries.
Payton Gendron, 18, was arraigned on one count of murder in the first degree on Saturday night, the Erie County District Attorney's Office confirmed via NBC News.
A manifesto PDF that included a hared birthdate and biographical details with Gendron posted to Google Docs laid out specific plans to target Black victims and cited the "Great Replacement" Theory for motivation.
The "Great Replacement" Theory is the false ideology that a secret faction is attempting to replace white Americans with non-white individuals through immigration, interracial marriage and violence.
The manifesto was shared to Google Docs on Thursday (May 12) at 8:55 p.m., two days prior to the shooting at the Tops supermarket on Saturday and hadn't been modified since it was initially shared.
Police confirmed 11 of the 13 victims shot during the incident were Black.
The document includes elaborate plans of the planned shooting and confirms Gendron chose Buffalo because it had the highest demographic of Black people within his vicinity, but police are still working to verify the document's authenticity.
“We are aware of the manifesto allegedly written by the suspect and we’re working to definitively confirm that he is the author,” a senior law enforcement official told NBC News.