‘Shark Tank’ star Daymond John has pledged to support the family of the supermarket security guard killed in Saturday’s racially charged shooting in Buffalo, including offering to help with funeral costs, according to a new report.
Aaron Salter Jr.’s son got a call from John after learning his dad was a “Shark Tank” fan, TMZ reported Thursday.
“He offered a little help, and I just said, hey, I’m just looking to take care of my mom, and he said he’d have no problem doing that, that someone one would be in contact,” Aaron Salter III told TMZ.
“We talked and I think I was telling him about what happened, and he got a little emotional,” he continued. “I could hear it in his voice.”
Salter III said John told him he could reach out whenever his family needed anything.
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Salter Jr., 55, who served as a Buffalo cop for three decades, was one of 10 people killed in the mass shooting at a Tops supermarket on Saturday. His son described Salter Jr. as a “hero” during an interview with The Daily Beast over the weekend.
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“I’m pretty sure he saved lives today,” Salter III told the website.
Salter Jr. was an inventor who wrote on his LinkedIn page that he dreamed of making “cars flow out of water.”
Police arrested Payton Gendron, 18, of Conklin, NY in connection with the shooting. He is charged with murder. Three people were also injured in Saturday’s attack. Eleven of the 13 victims were black.
Brooklyn-born John, 53, is the founder and president of clothing brand FUBU. He has been a regular star of the long-running investment show “Shark Tank” since its first season in 2009.
John previously made headlines in 2020 when he was accused of selling N95 masks to the state of Florida for $7 each at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, which he denied.
“I have not set any price,” John said in a statement at the time.
“My company acted as an intermediary to control the many 3M distributors and to protect Florida taxpayers, while establishing escrow protections that allowed the state to exercise due diligence before finalizing its mask purchase.”