BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Zeneta Everhart’s son was wounded three years ago at the Tops Supermarket on Jefferson Avenue, where a Broome County teenager carried out a racist massacre that killed 10 Black residents.
Since then, she’s advocated for stronger gun laws to curb the violence in Buffalo and across the country.
That trauma struck her again when she learned of an incident on Tuesday, June 17, involving two men who police said passed a gun back and forth in the same store, and pointed it at a father and daughter outside by the parking lot.
Police records obtained by News 4 Investigates revealed the suspects fled the parking lot by car, before quick-acting Buffalo officers stopped them five blocks from the store. The reports state police seized two ghost guns and three magazines – all loaded with a total of 50 rounds – which resulted in the arrests of the two suspects.
No motive is mentioned in any of the police documents. Everhart said she is not sure it matters.
“As a mother, it is scary,” said Everhart, who represents the Masten District on the Buffalo Common Council. “And when I learned about it, it was even more scary, because I find out what day it happened — my son is back to work at Tops. He was in the store that day, and to know my son was right back in a dangerous space, where anything could have happened, it crushes you, because what do you do about it?”
Neither the police department nor Tops publicly disclosed the incident until News 4 Investigates inquired to confirm information in the police reports.
Tops released a statement Wednesday that it maintains a strong security presence “with enhanced security systems” at the Jefferson Avenue store, and will continue assisting the Buffalo police detectives in their investigation.
“Our video surveillance indicates that no firearms were pulled on any individuals on the Tops property,” a Tops spokeswoman said. “We understand the exchange of a firearm inside the store is still under investigation by the Buffalo Police Department.”
How the incident unfolded
The police records obtained by News 4 Investigates provide the following narrative:
On Tuesday, June 17, a witness told police that a man pulled a gun on his daughter around the Tops parking lot. The father said he rushed to Tops to check on his daughter, when he spotted the suspects’ vehicle.
“He damn near almost hit me in my truck as I was pulling into the lot,” the witness told police. “I rolled down my window and said, ‘Yo, you ain’t see this big black truck coming?'”
The witness said the suspect rolled down his window, yelled an expletive, and “waved the gun in my direction before he pulled off out of the lot.” The witness called 911 and flagged down patrol officers responding to a call a block away.
Police stopped the suspects’ vehicle about five blocks from the store.
Officers seized a 9mm ghost gun from the driver’s seat floorboard with nine bullets in the magazine, and one in the chamber. They found a second 9mm ghost gun under the driver’s seat, with 15 rounds in the magazine and one in the chamber, in addition to three loaded magazines from one of the suspect’s pants.
In total, the police seized 50 rounds from the two guns and the three magazines.
In addition, officers recovered a surveillance video from Tops, which allegedly showed the two men in the store passing a gun back and forth.
“Any instances where you hear that there’s a gun at a spot that was fraught with tragedy, just a few years ago, is a challenging thing to process at the moment,” Buffalo Common Council Majority Leader Leah Halton-Pope said.
Police charged Avello A. Pena, 34, of Tonawanda, with criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, assault in the third degree, menacing in the second degree with a weapon, obstructing the government in the second degree, and resisting arrest.
The police report states Pena resisted while officers patted him down and bit an officer’s finger.
Police charged the second suspect, Ronnie Midgett, 38, of Buffalo, with criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree.
Police: No one was targeted
Erie County District Attorney Michael Keane said no evidence has surfaced that would imply the store or any customers were targeted.
“There’s no indication that the location had anything to do with the horrific tragedy that happened three years ago,” Keane said.
Leah Halton-Pope, who represents the Ellicott District on the Buffalo Common Council, said she spoke with a Buffalo police chief, who confirmed the details, leaving her “shocked as anybody else.”
“It’s disturbing,” Halton-Pope said. “State laws changed that year, specifically because of Tops, and strengthened where you can even have a weapon, so the fact that these individuals even walked into the grocery store, and I believe grocery stores are listed in the law, is disturbing to me, frustrating to me.”
Everhart said the incident underscores the need for government officials “at the highest level” to finally address gun violence.
“I’m a ‘what-if’ person,” Everhart said. “Anything could have happened in that store in the moment. Whether they were there to threaten anybody or not, the point is that you were there passing a gun back and forth between each other. Anything in that moment could have happened and someone could have gotten hurt. And my child was there.”