Heyward Patterson, victim of  Buffalo market attack, was put to rest in the first of several funerals.

Mourners gathered at the Lincoln Memorial United Methodist Church in Buffalo, New York, on Friday for the private funeral of Deacon Heyward Patterson, 67, who was on his way to the Tops grocery store to pick up supplies for the church’s food kitchen when he was killed in a hate-filled mass shooting. Patterson was one of ten persons slain as the shooter stormed the building with an AR-15. Three more people were injured.

“His loving memory will live on in the hearts of many relatives and friends,” according to an obituary released by the Thomas Edward Funeral Home.

Patterson was buried in St. Matthew’s Cemetery, about a mile and a half from where he was down in an unprovoked attack.

“From what I gather, he was aiding someone in loading goods into their car when he was shot and died,” Rev. Russell Bell said. “Deacon Patterson was a people-person. He cared about the community as much as he did about the church.”

Payton Gendron, a White 18-year-old from hundreds of miles away, reportedly traveled from the outskirts of Binghamton to Buffalo last week with numerous weapons, body armor, and a streaming camera fastened to his tactical helmet before opening fire at a grocery in a largely Black area.

During a visit to the city on Tuesday, President Biden branded the incident a “hate crime and an act of racially motivated violent extremism.”

The suspect was being jailed without bail and was being monitored for suicide. He faces life in prison if convicted on the state counts. A federal probe has also been launched.

Roberta A. Drury, 32; Margus D. Morrison, 52; Andre Mackneil of Auburn, 53; Aaron Salter, 55; Geraldine Talley, 62; Celestine Chaney, 65; Katherine Massey, 72; Pearl Young, 77; and Ruth Whitfield, 86, were also killed.

Zaire Goodman, 20, Jennifer Warrington, 50, and Christopher Braden, 55, were among others who had non-life-threatening injuries.