New York State - EFLEA Project

New York State and its state administrative agency, the Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS), is applying for Emergency Federal Law Enforcement Assistance Program (EFLEA) funding on behalf of the City of Buffalo, NY to help offset overtime and fringe expenses related to the law enforcement and emergency response to the white supremacist terror attack at the Jefferson Avenue Tops Market on May 14, 2022, in the City of Buffalo. The total requested amount is $446,781.

On the afternoon of Saturday, May 14, 2022, a lone active shooter committed a racially motivated terroristic attack at the Tops Market at 1275 Jefferson Avenue on the east side of the City of Buffalo, an area largely populated by African American residents. Thirteen people were shot, 10 fatally, both outside and inside the market. Dozens more were present and traumatized by witnessing the horrors of that afternoon. Buffalo Police and Fire responded to the shots fired call on May 14 at 2:31 p.m. and arrived on the scene roughly one minute later. Within six minutes, the shooter, Payton Gendron, was in their custody.

This was just the beginning of an extraordinary multi-agency response spearheaded by the Buffalo Police that strained both human and budgetary resources for months. In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, the Tops site, both inside and out, had to be secured as investigators and the local and federal law enforcement did their work. Outside, a continued presence was needed as the site became a place where food and many other resources were given out to the community, and thousands gathered around makeshift memorials to those lost to show support, pray, and affirm their commitment to the community. Although the Buffalo Police provided the bulk of the police presence on site, first to secure the site, and then to manage the site’s many visitors and community resources that were being given out from that location, efforts were supplemented by the Buffalo Fire Department, the Erie County Sheriff, and the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA) Police.