Christopher Braden Buffalo Tops supermarket manager life spared cause he was white after teen gunman, Payton Gendron, apologized to him upon realizing man wasn’t black and sparing him his life.
A supermarket manager is grateful to be alive after describing how ‘white supremacist‘ gunman Payton Gendron lowered his weapon and apologized instead of opening gunfire on the cowering store manager– upon the gunman realizing the worker was white and not black.
Father-of-two Christopher Braden, 55, raced to the front of the Tops Friendly grocery store when Gendron started firing at black shoppers in Buffalo Saturday afternoon, killing ten.
Braden was hit in the leg and tried to crawl between two registers to hide, only for the 18-year-old shooter continuing to make his way towards him and taking aim with his semi-automatic rifle – only to spare the store manager’s life at the last moment, even going so far as to apologize, upon realizing the cowering man in front of him was white.
Braden is one of the three individuals injured during Saturday’s mass shooting and recovering from his wounds in hospital.
Footage recorded (see below) on Gendron’s livestreaming camera captures Braden’s horrifying scream of ‘no’ as he covers his face and prepares to die – only for the gunman to casually say ‘sorry’ and back away.
NOT GRAPHIC
This is the part after the Buffalo shooter kills the security guard. He apologizes to the white man for scaring him #Buffalo #BuffaloNY #shooting #breakingnews #newyork pic.twitter.com/gqXlzcDdOu
— Crazy Videos (@DesolationVids) May 15, 2022
Survivor’s guilt
Braden lives in a suburb of Buffalo, 20 minutes from the scene of the massacre. An assistant manager for the New York grocery chain, he transferred from another location to the Jefferson Avenue store just a couple weeks ago, according to family friend Sue Trala.
‘The guy could have literally shot him dead – but he didn’t,’ Trala told the dailymail.
‘He has two boys, he’s a great neighbor. We have a glass of wine, we snow blow each other’s homes in the winter. It could not have happened to a nicer guy,’ she added.
‘Christopher is trying to put on a brave face and make light of it but he’s probably going to have survivor’s guilt for the rest of his life – just because he’s white.’
Braden is currently in the hospital with a shattered tibia and it’s expected he will get a visit from Joe Biden Tuesday when the president travels to Buffalo to meet families of victims and survivors.
‘He’s coherent but he’s had major surgery on his left leg and he’s going to have at least two more surgeries,’ Trala explained.
‘The bullet went in and came out, leaving a pretty big hole. They think it was a hollow point.
‘It’s because he was white – there is literally no other explanation’
‘From what he’s said, he heard the shots and ran up to the front of the store. He saw the guard getting shot right in front of him but he didn’t even realize he had been hit in the leg.
‘It was only when he was laying on the ground between the registers that he realized he had been shot. He looks up and sees the shooter pointing his gun at him but then he just says sorry.
‘It’s because he was white – there is literally no other explanation. The kid knew what he was doing, he was well trained, but he took the decision not to shoot. I blame all those stupid war games they play.’
The decision to spare Braden’s life on account of him being white will likely further embolden prosecutors as they seek to make their case and levy a series of hate crime charges against the 18 year old.
Gendron has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder following Saturday’s attack. He is being held without bail and faces life in prison. Prosecutors were seeking to add additional charges including further terrorism, hate crime and murder charges.
