The placement of these reminders of him are all deliberate, Tirzah said. A large picture of the church deacon, displayed on an easel, overlooks the kitchen. Tirzah is much more focused on her son’s mental health.Īt Tirzah and Jake’s home, an apartment located just a few blocks northeast of Tops Friendly Market, several award plaques honoring Heyward lean against a TV stand. She hasn’t burdened Jake with details of the criminal cases. Tirzah said she and Jake hadn’t planned on participating in events locally. Events include a moment of silence and the chiming of church bells. The city of Buffalo will pause Sunday to mark the passing of one year since the attack. Justice Department officials weigh whether to seek the death penalty if Gendron is convicted.

A federal criminal hate crimes case is still pending, as U.S. In February, Gendron was sentenced to life in prison without parole after pleading guilty to murder and other charges brought by local prosecutors. The attacker, Payton Gendron, was 18 when he drove more than 200 miles from his home in rural New York, looking for Black people to kill in Buffalo’s largely minority and working-class East side. The nine others killed, all Black, ranged in age from 32 to 86.

Heyward was at the Tops Friendly Market assisting a shopper with groceries when he was shot and killed by an assault-rifle-toting white supremacist. “He poured his heart out to me and, a week later, he left,” Patterson said. That guidance would serve so many mothers and fathers as the death toll from gun violence in America climbs and spreads, she said.Ī beloved church deacon known for offering rides home from the supermarket for people without cars, Heyward Patterson made a heartfelt call to his ex-wife last Mother’s Day, telling his ex-wife what a great mother she was and how happy he was about how she was raising his son. Jake’s compass through grief, his mother has told him, should be his faith and prayer. Tirzah and 13-year-old Jaques “Jake” Patterson recently opened up about coping with immense grief after a mass shooting, an unceasing story across the nation. Then Heyward Patterson was gunned down along with nine people in a racist attack at a Buffalo supermarket a year ago Sunday. Patterson and her husband had divorced but remained close for the sake of their son. (AP) - Tirzah Patterson will dedicate this Mother’s Day to the hardest part of a mother’s job, trying to help her child make sense of tragedy.

Brazen by kelley armstrong