Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Three months after the shooting massacre at Tops Markets on Jefferson Avenue in Buffalo, some of those who survived the attack inside the store are expressing feelings of being forgotten and frustration over a lack of support.
Inside the Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church Sunday afternoon, community activist Myles Carter facilitated a discussion among five survivors who were at the Tops Market during the deadly shooting spree and all have different stories and lingering issues stemming from the horrifying experience.
With more than $5 million raised for the Buffalo 5/14 Survivors Fund and just about $150 thousand released, these survivors are going public and are questioning the categories established for funding victims' families and survivors and the lack of advance payments being made to all those impacted by the tragedy.
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Survivors who spoke Sunday are fully supportive of the victims' families being compensated and are seeking recognition that their lives too have been forever disrupted and changed with long term mental impacts.
"I'm just a survivor," said Robia Gary, who was inside Tops with her teenage daughter that day. "It doesn't matter", she said in frustration as she recounted the moment when the gunman taunted her by putting the barrel of a hot gun to her head, burning he scalp, as she pleaded not to die and he turned the gun to continue shooting other victims.
Gary is frustrated with the system being used to determine who gets funding and when and has lost hope as she remains in her home each day and seeing a psychiatrist in the wake of the shooting incident.
"How do you divide people and categorize them," she said. "We shouldn't be left out."
The group of survivors has had limited contact with the fund hierarchy and has requested meetings.
Carter is organizing efforts to assist survivors of the Tops attack and Tuesday evening at the Macedonia Church will assist with online applications eligible for gifts under Buffalo’s 5/14 Survivor’s Fund, as well as offer information about other legal aid and mental health resources
"We still have to fight for those who survived that day," said Carter. "There's a difference between survivors and impact."
Stemming from the frustration over the 5/14 fund, a new GoFundMe page is being established to raise funds and distribute them to survivors who have received limited or no financial compensation.