BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — 33-year-old Mark Talley will soon be releasing his book, “5/14: The Day the Devil Came to Buffalo” to share his loss and hope for a resilient community.
Nearly one year has passed since a gunman took the lives of 10 innocent people in a racist attack inside the Jefferson Avenue Tops Friendly Markets.
Talley is still processing the murder of his 62-year-old mom, Geraldine Talley, who was one of the 10 victims.
He read part of his unpublished book to 7 News reporter Yoselin Person on Thursday:
“My heart went racing to pounding because I knew when I pushed the play button again the killer was going to find my beautiful mom,” he expresses. “Giant tears clouded my eyes as I reluctantly pushed the play button knowing that once the video resumed with the killer walking to the next aisle he would be finding my mom, and she would eventually be killed.”
Talley says writing the book over the last few months has been a rollercoaster of emotions.
“There’s some moments of strong moments of emotions. You may find a little bit of my humor in there, if you like my humor,” he says. “But overall that is just a storytelling book of everything I went through and how I feel and still feeling and stuff I got to deal with.”
Talley can’t give away too much of what’s written in the book, but he remembers his mother as someone everyone loved.
“She was extraordinary, ordinary, Southern woman with baptist roots that’s extra extroverted who loved to cook,” Talley says. “And me and her we love to get into each other nerves here and there.”
Talley is also preparing himself for going back to the scene where the white supremacist took his mother’s life.
“Do you want the city to make it seem this is a festival when it kind of should be a moment of silence,” he says.
Click here to find Mark Talley’s book on Amazon. An electronic version of the book is available for preorder. A paperback and hardcover will be available on May14th.
