What we know so far about the victims of the Buffalo mass shooting

Officials and family members have begun to release the identities of the 10 people killed in a mass shooting at a Buffalo supermarket on Saturday.

Police said the accused gunman shot, in total, 11 Black people and two white people Saturday in a rampage that was broadcast live online, before he surrendered to authorities.

Katherine Massey was shopping for groceries when she was killed. Her sister, Barbara Massey, called her "a beautiful soul," in a text message to a reporter.

The 72-year-old was an advocate for the Black community in Buffalo, according to the Buffalo News. The newspaper said she frequently wrote letters to them — including one last year arguing for more federal action and legislation to address gun violence.

Roberta Drury was "vibrant, outgoing and could talk to anyone," her older sister Amanda Drury told CBC News, confirming her sister's death.

The 32-year-old had moved from the family's hometown of Syracuse, N.Y., to Buffalo around 2010 to be with her older brother after he underwent a bone marrow transplant for leukemia, helping him with his bar — The Dalmatia — and with his family, Amanda Drury told Reuters.

Pearly Young ran a food pantry in Buffalo's Central Park neighbourhood for 25 years, according to a tweet from reporter Madison Carter, who works for an NBC affiliate.

The 77-year-old was a grandmother and missionary who loved "singing, dancing" and being with family, Carter wrote.

Heyward Patterson, 67, was a deacon at a nearby church. He'd gone by the church's soup kitchen before heading to the supermarket, where he offered an informal taxi service, driving people home with their bags.

"From what I understand, he was assisting somebody putting their groceries in their car when he was shot and killed," said Pastor Russell Bell of State Tabernacle Church of God in Christ.

Bell said Patterson would clean the church and do anything else that was needed.

"He would meet my wife and I at the door and escort us to the office. We never required him or asked him to do it. He just did it out of love," Bell said.

Services at the church went on as usual Sunday, but Bell said it was difficult.

"It was quite a struggle, we had to get through it and our hearts are broken," he said. "Deacon Patterson was a man who loved people. He loved the community just as much as he loved the church."