BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) Preparing for the one year anniversary of the horrific shooting at Tops Market on 5-14, attorney John Elmore said now that the shooter is behind bars for the rest of his life, his focus has shifted to looking at others who also may be responsible for the mass murders.
Families were able to get some legal closure in the past year with the sentencing of Payton Gendron on state charges, but civil cases and a federal case are still on-going.
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Elmore represents 3 families who lost a loved one as well as a Tops store employee. He has been with them every step of the way over the past year.
"Since what happened in Buffalo, there have been so many mass murders, that every time you see a mass murder, which is almost a weekly event, they have to relive what happened last May," said Elmore. "Some of the families have become activists, others have remained quiet. People grieve in different ways," he added.
Elmore represents the estates of Heyward Patterson, Katherine Massey and Andre MacNeil. Also, Latisha Rogers, who frantically called 911 from the office at Tops to report the massacre.
In his attempts to sue gun manufacturers and social media sites for their role
in the mass shooting, Elmore said there have been impediments along the way.
"The U.S. Attorney's Office, in particular, has not disclosed information that would be useful in holding social media platforms accountable. Also, Governor Kathy Hochul's failure to adopt the Grieving Families Act."
The federal government is considering whether or not to pursue the death penalty. Because of that, Elmore cannot have access to certain information
from the U.S. Attorney's office until that investigation is over.
"We've asked for certain information that would help us find the social media platforms that indoctrinated him and put him down a rabbit hole that turned him into a White Supremacist and carry out the mass murder."
Elmore acknowledged that government doesn't always march to the quickest beat of the drummer, adding, "we just have to be patient." As for a timeline, he thinks litigation may be weeks away, rather than months away.