Retired officer killed in Buffalo supermarket attack honored at his funeral

GETZVILLE, N.Y. - The retired police officer who was shot and killed while trying to stop the gunman in a racist attack at a Buffalo supermarket May 14 was awarded the department's medal of honor at his funeral Wednesday, as the country processed another massacre at a Texas school that killed 19 children and two adults.Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia also posthumously promoted Aaron Salter to lieutenant, saying his actions — firing multiple times at the shooter, striking his body armor — bought precious time that allowed others in the store to escape."Aaron bravely fought evil that day," Gramaglia said at The Chapel in Getzville, where law enforcement officers from U.S.

and Canadian departments filled a dozen rows.Services were also held for Pearl Young, a 77-year-old grandmother, great-grandmother and substitute teacher who was devoted to her church.Members of The Patriot Guard Riders encircle the casket of Aaron Salter Jr.

with American flags as it exits The Chapel at Crosspoint on May 25, 2022 in Buffalo, New York. (Joshua Thermidor/Getty Images)Salter and Young were among the 10 Black people killed when a white gunman wearing body armor and a helmet-mounted camera targeted shoppers and workers at Tops Friendly Market, in a predominantly Black neighborhood, on a Saturday afternoon.

Three others were injured in the attack, which federal authorities are investigating as a hate crime.The 18-year-old suspect, Payton Gendron, of Conklin, has been charged with murder and is being held without bail.Gendron was in a Buffalo City courtroom with his attorneys Wednesday to ask a judge to bar Erie County prosecutors from commenting about the case to avoid influencing potential jurors.