Andre Mackneil, 53, was killed on May 14, 2022, at the Tops Friendly Markets on Jefferson Avenue in Buffalo, New York, when a gunman opened fire inside the store. Family members said he had stopped in that Saturday to pick up a cake for his young son’s birthday.

His obituary described him as a Buffalo native born March 8, 1969, living in Auburn, New York, who worked as a cook and cared for his child at home. Relatives remembered him for his devotion to family and community and for a love of basketball, music, poetry, and guitar.

Investigators identified the shooter as Payton Gendron and said the attack was carried out as an act of hate-driven violence. Gendron was taken into custody at the scene; prosecutors filed state charges that included murder and domestic terrorism motivated by hate, and he pleaded guilty to the state indictment on November 28, 2022, receiving a sentence of life without parole on February 15, 2023. Federal prosecutors also returned a 27-count indictment on July 14, 2022, charging hate crimes and firearms offenses tied to the attack, and that federal case remained active.

Did anyone who knew Andre remember his visits to that Jefferson Avenue store or the cake he was buying that day?