Tops shooting survivor to killer: “I hope he never forgets the screams”

BUFFALO, NY (WKBW) — A produce manager at the Tops on Jefferson Avenue was inside the store during the May 14 attack. She says she hopes the killer never forgets the beautiful people he murdered in his racially-motivated rampage.

The gunman, Payton Gendron, 19, will spend the rest of his life in prison without parole. That’s the automatic sentence he is receiving for pleading guilty Monday to 15 state charges including domestic terrorism and first-degree murder for shooting dead ten people and wounding three. He still faces similar federal charges and could face the death penalty.

“I hope he never forgets the screams as I will never forget them, as my fellow co-workers will never forget them — the ones that were trapped inside the store,” remarked Rose Marie Wysocki, produce manager, Tops, Jefferson Avenue. 

Wysocki stood in line at Erie County Court Monday waiting to be seated wearing a Tops t-shirt and her employee badge to hear the gunman's guilty plea.

WKBW

“It made me sick. It made me sick to my stomach — these were beautiful people,” commented Wysocki
Erie County District Attorney John Flynn explained how the gunman planned the mass shootings over several months targeting the neighborhood because of its high African American population even visiting the store ahead of the attack.

That's when Wysocki says she first saw him.  She says it was disturbing and as a white woman, he made a very racial and derogatory comment about those who shop in the store.

“And just that word alone — it's disgusting — it's a disgusting word to me,” declared Wysocki. 

“He said you don't look like you belong around here.” 

WKBW

Wysocki tells me she spotted him a few more times at the store but ignored him.

Then on May 14, she was trapped inside during his rampage and never thought she would make it out alive.

“No, I didn't think I was going to get out alive. I didn't think I was going to get out alive,” repeated Wysocki. “All I was thinking about was my children and my grandchildren. What would my kids do without me?"

Wysocki reflected on the Jefferson Ten who were murdered and remembers the last words the victim, Ruth Whitfield, said to her.

WKBW

“When you left somebody, instead of saying goodbye, or have a nice day —  it was have a ‘blessed day' and that was the last thing that Ruth Whitfield had said to me — was have a blessed day,” recalled Wysocki. 

Wysocki walks into the Jefferson Avenue Tops each work day facing her fears — a constant reminder of the horrific massacre. 

“How do you go into work every day and face your fears?” Buckley asked. "With God's grace,” replied Wysocki. 

There are roses still in bloom outside the Jefferson Avenue Tops, still surviving in Buffalo's cold, just as Wysocki and other survivors and families are also hanging on to life and hope. 

WKBW

Wysocki says as a survivor, she has been asked if she wants to make a statement at Gendron's sentencing in February, but as of now, she has not decided if she will deliver a statement.  However, she says she wants the killer never to forget the people he murdered and says Gendron is "beyond evil”.   

“We are Jefferson Strong and this is one of the strongest communities you came across and you will ever come across,” noted Wysocki.

Tops Markets issued the following statement to 7 News in response to the shooter’s plea: