The employees involved in an alleged assault of a Black woman at the Mandella Market on Broadway and Jefferson have been fired, the owners of the gas station and store announced Friday.
“We are so deeply embarrassed and disgusted with the events that took place that evening,” market owner Latifa Ahmed said in a statement posted to Facebook. “I’m sure as everyone has seen by now we had an incident occur in our store with a community member that escalated more than it should have and was handled very very poorly by the employees working that night. Any form of violence or aggression has NO place in the Mandella Market or in our community whatsoever.”
Mandella Market will begin requiring employees to undergo conflict resolution training and would hire a diverse range of employees moving forward, Ahmed said, adding that the changes would “ENSURE that an incident like this will never happen again.”
Ahmed also offered “our sincerest apologies to the woman who was affected, her family, and all of the other community members that felt hurt by these actions.”
“We are aiming for a future to heal these wounds and make sure that we create a safe, and welcoming space for all of our brothers and sisters,” Ahmed said in her statement.
The owner’s statement comes after some East Side residents began boycotting the market and protested outside the second Mandella Market location on East Ferry Wednesday, forcing the store to close early.
“We want some answers, and they gonna answer us, because if they don’t answer us, we’re gonna make them lose money, because we’re gonna shut them down,” Nate Boyd, who organized the boycott, told BTPM NPR at the protest.
Social media video of the alleged assault shows two men, apparently employees of the store, restraining the woman while others appeared preparing to hit her with a wooden object. Buffalo police say their investigation is ongoing.
BPD shut down the market’s Broadway and Jefferson location after the Tuesday night incident. Ahmed said market management was cooperating with law enforcement and that the store would remain closed “until further notice in order for us all to continue to reflect.”
