Nassau to raise funds for mass shooting victims, families in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas

Nassau County will host a fundraiser next week in Wantagh to raise donations for victims, families and the communities affected by mass shootings last month in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman announced Wednesday.

The event will take place Tuesday at Mulcahy's on Railroad Avenue, Wantagh, from 6-10 p.m., and officials said Nassau County police officers will personally deliver donations, including funds and toys, to both Buffalo and Uvalde — with assistance from DHL and JetBlue.

"Out of something that's so horrible, so tragic, our police unions have come together to do something really, really good," Blakeman said at a news conference outside of Mulcahy's on Wednesday. 

Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder asked the public to donate new, unopened toys, that will be sent to the survivors and orphans of the Buffalo and Uvalde shootings. 

"We are going to bring Christmas to these kids in July," Ryder said. "We're going to put a smile back on their faces with these toys."

Ryder and Blakeman were joined by representatives of the Nassau Police Foundation, the Superior Officers Association, the Detectives Association, the Police Benevolent Association, Toys for Tots and the John Theissen Children  Foundation, shipping company DHL and JetBlue. 

The toys can be dropped off at police precincts, the police academy, the county highway department or Mulchahy's on the day of the event, he said. The fundraiser at Mulchahy's will cost $60 per person and all funds raised will be given to the families of the victims. 

The Buffalo mass shooting occurred May 14 at a Tops Friendly Market, when authorities said the accused 18-year-old gunman, Payton S. Gendron, killed 10 Black people and wounded three others, one Black and two white, in a racist attack. Authorities said Gendron, who has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder, described himself as an "ethno-nationalist" who advocated white supremacy. He drove about 200 miles from his nearly all-white hometown of Conklin to the predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo he'd targeted, livestreaming a portion of his attack on Twitch from a helmet-mounted camera.

Just 10 days after that massacre, authorities said another 18-year-old gunman, Salvador Ramos, stormed Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, fatally shooting 19 students and two teachers, and wounding 17 others. It was the third-deadliest school shooting in the United States.

The shootings have prompted renewed calls for a federal ban on semi-automatic weapons.

With AP