Biden hails Buffalo guard who died trying to stop mass shooting

President Biden on Monday praised safety guard Aaron Salter Jr., who died Saturday whereas making an attempt to defend grocery retailer prospects throughout a mass taking pictures in Buffalo.

Salter, 55, pulled his gun and opened hearth on physique armor-clad suspect Payton Gendron, however was shot and died on the scene together with 9 different individuals.

“We pay tribute to all regulation enforcement officers and households who perceive what it takes, what’s in danger to avoid wasting and shield all of us,” Biden mentioned at a White Home occasion the place he offered the Medal of Valor to fifteen different heroic cops and firefighters.

“And that features paying tribute to the Buffalo police officer Aaron Salter — Slater, excuse me — who gave his life making an attempt to avoid wasting others when a gunman shot and killed 10 harmless individuals in a grocery retailer in Buffalo on Saturday,” the president went on.

“He truly was in a position to shoot the assailant twice, however he [Gendron] had on a bulletproof vest. And he [Salter] misplaced his life within the course of. Nobody understands greater than all of you right here as we speak the ache and anguish these households in Buffalo really feel.”

Gendron, 18, is believed to have been motivated by anti-black racism. He’s accused of taking pictures 13 individuals, 11 of whom had been black.

Biden is scheduled to go to Buffalo on Tuesday to satisfy with members of the neighborhood affected by the tragedy.

Biden on Monday offered the Medal of Valor to fifteen police and firefighters — a few of whom died whereas performing current feats of bravery. Amongst these honored had been Spring Valley, NY, firefighter Jared Lloyd, 35, who died final yr whereas rescuing aged residents from a burning nursing residence.

Firefighter Abraham Miller of the New York Metropolis Hearth Division additionally was acknowledged with a medal for rappelling down a six-story constructing in Washington Heights to avoid wasting a 5-year-old woman from a fireplace. One in every of Miller’s colleagues held the rope as a result of there wasn’t anything to anchor it.