Bills, NFL Foundations Donating $400K to Support Local Efforts After Buffalo Shooting

Mike Chiari @@mikechiariFeatured Columnist IVMay 18, 2022

KANSAS CITY, MO - JANUARY 23: Buffalo Bills helmet sits on the field prior to the AFC Divisional Round playoff game against the Kansas City Chiefs on January 23rd, 2022 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by William Purnell/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

William Purnell/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The Buffalo Bills announced Wednesday that they and the NFL are donating matching funds to local response efforts in Buffalo, New York, following the mass shooting Saturday at a Buffalo grocery store.

Both the Buffalo Bills Foundation and the NFL Foundation are donating $200,000 apiece for the cause:

Buffalo Bills @BuffaloBills
The Buffalo Bills Foundation is donating $200,000 to support our local response efforts to the racist attack on the East Side.<br><br>The NFL Foundation will be matching that with an additional $200,000.

Last week, a gunman shot 13 people at Tops supermarket in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo, killing 10 of them, per CNN.

The suspect, 18-year-old Payton Gendron, was subsequently arrested and charged with first-degree murder.

Gendron allegedly drove hundreds of miles away from his hometown of Conklin, New York, live-streamed the shooting on Twitch and posted a manifesto online, expressing racist and antisemitic views.

United States Attorney General Merrick Garland referred to the shooting as "a hate crime and an act of racially motivated violent extremism," according to CNN.

Of the 13 people who were shot, 11 of them were Black.

One day after the shooting, Bills safety Micah Hyde hosted a previously scheduled charity softball game in Buffalo, involving several high-profile Bills players.

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Per ESPN's Alaina Getzenberg, Hyde committed to donating a portion of the proceeds to the families of the victims of the shooting.

Bills quarterback Josh Allen also addressed the media at the event, saying the team would "figure out a way to help the situation, help the families out."