BUFFALO, N.Y. — Nine months of emotions reached a breaking point in court Wednesday morning, as victims' families gave their last words to the man who pulled the trigger before he was sentenced to life in prison.
“We’re still living, but our hearts don’t beat the same, and that’s going to be for a long time,” said Barbara Mapps, sister of Tops victim Katherine Massey.
An outburst in the courtroom occurred after Mapps addressed the shooter, Payton Gendron, prompting her son to charge at him.
The tense emotions were only further heightened when Gendron apologized for the first time.
To the families, that apology was just words.
“I felt like it was written for him, and it didn't seem sincere,” said Deja Brown, daughter of victim Andre Mackniel. “It was too short, and the whole time, I didn't see any sincerity out of him.”
The 19-year-old shooter is looking to avoid federal death row. He appears in federal court Thursday, where he faces 27 charges.
However, some of the victims' families are calling for the death penalty.
“I don't see wasting another dollar on him,” Mapps said.
Others don’t want it to be that easy.
“He should be scared,” said Zeneta Everhart, mother of victim Zaire Goodman, who survived the attack. “This is why I've said over and over again that I don't believe in the death penalty. Every day of the rest of his life, he should be scared. He should be fearful. He should not be able to sleep. He should not have a waking moment where he does not think about what he did.”
But rather than remembering the horror Gendron caused, the families are choosing to remember who their loved ones were and the legacies they left behind.
“Kat was 72, and she'll come down the street busting a move,” Mapps said. “If you put some James Brown on, Kat be doing that same little dance. She’d be in these funky glasses. She was funny. That's what she would do when she comes down. She would make your day.”