Tops security guard hailed as a hero: ‘Aaron died saving lives’ – Buffalo News

The last heroic moments of Aaron Wallace Salter Jr.’s life saved others.

The rampage at the Tops Markets on Jefferson Avenue on May 14 that left 10 dead could have been even worse had the Black security guard not tried to stop the racist killer, officials say.

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The last heroic moments of Aaron Wallace Salter Jr.’s life saved others.

The rampage at the Tops Markets on Jefferson Avenue on May 14 that left 10 dead could have been even worse had the Black security guard not tried to stop the racist killer, officials say.



Aaron Salter




They point to Salter’s bullet in the accused killer’s armor-plated ballistic vest as proof. 

“Aaron took this guy on, and his actions allowed people time to run toward the back of the store,” Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said.”He undoubtedly saved lives. Aaron bought people time. He slowed the guy down. Aaron died saving lives.”

Just after the shooting, news spread quickly that Salter, a retired Buffalo police officer and a beloved guard at the East Side Tops since 2018, was among the slain.

“Even though you leave the job, the job doesn’t leave you. I know he was thinking about, something was going wrong here. People’s lives were in danger, and he was probably the only person who was in there that could help and save people,” said retired Lt. Steven Malkowski.

Even before the details of the massacre were known, those who knew Salter said they felt in their hearts that he would have done everything he could to try to stop the rampage.

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Gramaglia declined to comment on the specifics of what happened during the shooting because of the ongoing investigation.

But the livestreamed video, obtained by The Buffalo News and also circulating on social media, show glimpses of Salter’s actions. 

Police commissioner: Salter died keeping officer’s oath

Salter was just outside the entrance of the store when the gunman parked his vehicle in front of the store and began firing a high-powered rifle. Four people fell instantly.

Ten people were gunned down at a Buffalo supermarket May 14 in a horrifying mass shooting that officials were quick to label as “pure evil” an…

Salter, wearing a summer-style security guard uniform, appeared to duck into the vestibule of the store for cover.

The killer then fired multiple times through the front window toward where Salter had just entered. 

The gunman then entered the store and systematically shot at victims as he encountered them.

At one point, the killer appeared to move along the front of the store where the checking lines empty out. A Coinstar machine and some shelves line the front wall. While some of the video footage is pixilated, a figure who appears to be Salter stepped out from behind some shelves and then ducked back as the killer approached. Moments later, Salter was killed.

Salter shot at the gunman multiple times, hitting him at least once in the chest, Gramaglia said in a recent news conference. It is not clear from the gunman’s video when Salter fired his weapon.

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“He fired one round that struck the defendant’s bulletproof vest,” Gramaglia confirmed.

The killer’s online writings, uploaded just before the killing, showed that he was worried about the security at the store. In the uploaded material, he said he went to the store in March to do surveillance and wrote that a security guard questioned him about what he was doing in the store. He also wrote that he planned to shoot the security guard through the window.

Salter, who was 55, will be laid to rest today. A visitation will be held at 11 a.m. at The Chapel, 500 CrossPoint Parkway, Getzville, followed by the funeral service at noon.

While he was retired from the police department, Salter died keeping a police officer’s oath, Gramaglia said.

As such, he will be honored “as any line of duty death would,” Gramaglia said.

Beyond police work: a teacher, musician and Bills fan

Salter was many things in his life – a police officer, a teacher, a musician and an inventor. 

Born in Buffalo, Salter went to School 78 from kindergarten to 8th grade and graduated from Hutchinson Technical High School in 1984.

He was a devout Christian who “accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior as a teenager at Cold Spring Bible Chapel,” his family said for his obituary.

He was always a hard worker. As a teenager, he worked a number of jobs. He had a paper route with his sister. He also worked at Tops. 

The son of the security guard killed in the May 14 Tops shooting accepted a diploma posthumously awarded to his father at Saturday’s commencement at Canisius College.

He was a student at Canisius College when he took the police exam, leaving school three credits shy of graduating to join the police ranks. Canisius officials posthumously awarded Salter a bachelor’s degree at Saturday’s graduation ceremony, with his son accepting the degree.

Salter was sworn in as a Buffalo police officer on Jan. 26, 1989. He worked in the old Precincts 16 and 10, the Northeast District and the Traffic Division, working events from the Turkey Trot to the Slow Roll. His family noted he was an excellent marksman.

In addition to his police work, Salter also worked with his father as a boilermaker apprentice. He worked at his parents’ business, AC Wholesale Laundry.

He was also a substitute teacher for the Buffalo Public Schools from 2007 to 2013 and had a vending machine business.

Salter was a gifted musician who played the drums and bass guitar. He was also an inventor who was trying to develop a car that didn’t need gasoline.

He enjoyed traveling in a mobile home across the country with his family and loved his sports teams – the Buffalo Bills, Boston Celtics and Notre Dame – bowling, fast cars and sweet potato pie.

Salter is survived by his wife, Kimberly J.; children, Latisha, Aaron W. III and Tanya; and sister, Cashell Durham.

Source: https://buffalonews.com/news/local/tops-security-guard-hailed-as-a-hero-aaron-died-saving-lives/article_6f0cdce4-db8a-11ec-929d-cbfc89e928b1.html