The wife and son of Aaron Salter Jr., a retired police officer who died fighting Buffalo mass shooting, needn’t worry about a roof over their heads after mega-producer Metro Boomin paid off his mortgage.
Aaron Salter III, the hero’s son, posted an Instagram photo outside the home on Wednesday. He was standing next to his mother, Kimberly Salter, holding a sign that read “Paid in Full.”
“I have to thank my favorite producer @metroboomin,” wrote Salter III. “He called me and asked if he could help me with my tragic loss and he did just that! No more fully paid mortgage!!!”
The hip-hop producer replied in a comment: “Love always bro! My line is always open and I meant every single thing I said as we spoke.”
Salter was one of 10 people killed in the May 14 Tops Friendly Market massacre in Buffalo, New York. Police described the shooting as “racially motivated violent extremism” after it emerged that 11 of the 13 victims were black.
Suspect Payton Gendron drove 200 miles from his hometown to carry out the attack in an area with a large black population, police said. Footage recorded by the suspect showed the N-word and the number 14 – a code referring to a 14-word statement by the white supremacists – on the barrel of his gun. In a 180-page manifesto shared online, he described himself as a “fascist” and “white supremacist.”
Andrew Lichtenstein/Staff/Corbis News
Gendron on Monday pleaded not guilty to federal hate crime charges.
Salter was a security guard at the supermarket. He served in the Buffalo Police Department for decades before retiring, and when shoppers at Tops Friendly Market were attacked, he jumped into action. Salter shot Gendron multiple times, buying valuable time for others to escape. But his bullets failed to penetrate the gunner’s body armor and Salter was killed.
“He’s a true hero,” Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said on ABC News. “Without his actions, there could have been more victims.”
Salter was posthumously promoted to lieutenant and received the Buffalo Police Department’s Medal of Honor at his funeral, local news reported. Buffalo officers also created a fellowship in his memory.
Metro Boomin reportedly suffered his own personal tragedy in June, according to TMZ. The 28-year-old producer’s mother was allegedly killed by her husband – who wasn’t Metro Boomin’s father – before committing suicide in a murder-suicide spree in Georgia.
news week turned to Aaron Salter III for comment.
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