Bells will ring in remembrance

Mayor Byron Brown has issued a request that all churches in Western New York ring their bells 13 times at 2:30 p.m., Monday, Nov. 14 to honor the 6-month mark of the racially motivated shooting that took 10 lives and injured three at the Tops Market on Jefferson Avenue. 2:30 marks the time of the shooting. 

Shortly after the shooting, Bishop Michael J. Fisher condemned “the scourge of senseless gun violence that has taken the lives of so many across our nation and changed the lives of countless innocent men, women and children must come to an end.”

“This country has struggled for years with the practice of racism and white supremacy that has victimized communities of color and has weakened us all. My heart is so heavy, and I pray for the victims, their families, friends and this community traumatized by this tragedy,” he said in a statement.

“Faith,” he continued, “compels us to reject the abject evil of racism and white supremacy, and to say ‘no’ to terror, and ‘no’ to the intent to silence Black and Brown voices.”