The last time Roberta Drury’s best friend saw her, they embraced in a hug. Moments later, she was the first person to be shot and killed at Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York.
“She walked around the corner and I heard gunshots. I started seeing everybody running out of Tops,” her best friend, who did not want to be named, told CBS News’ Jericka Duncan.
“She was a beautiful person. And her wanting some snacks that day got her life taken,” he said.
His grief for his best friend runs deep and so do his feelings about what is to come.
“This is another message to other right-wing people that they can do this, walk out, drop their weapon, get not a scratch on them and go to jail and be celebrated for it,” he said.
Drury’s loved ones, including her boyfriend Tramane Brice, saw the videos circulating on social media that appeared to show the gunman shooting her just outside the store.
“She’s the first victim…I saw it with my own eyes. I’m hurt, I won’t see my baby no more. I’m hurt all over a racist act,” Brice said.
Celestine Chaney was a beloved grandmother. The 65-year-old was shopping for strawberry shortcakes with her sister Joann Daniels when the shooting began.
“We were on our way out and we heard the shooter, but people was running in. I guess they ran over her. I reached down to pick her up, but she said go ahead, go ahead I’m coming,” Daniels said.
Chaney did not make it to safety and was among the 10 killed.
Daniels says she is going to live her life one day at a time and do her best to make her sister proud.
“I thought she was behind me, but she wasn’t so. She saved my life, because I was going to stay there with her,” Daniels said.
Tops remains closed and the shooting is still under investigation. It is unclear when it may open. Several residents told CBS News that they will never step foot inside this store again.
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