Nearly one year after he was killed in the May 14 mass shooting, relatives of Andre Mackniel look back on the man who should still be here today.

"Andre was a character," said Lee Manuel, Mackniel’s uncle. "He was funny. He liked to laugh...he loved his family. He wanted to play basketball in the younger years of his life. And then you know he had beautiful kids."

The father of five lived in Auburn, but was celebrating his 3-year-old son’s birthday in Buffalo with family. He stopped at Tops to pick up a birthday cake for him but never made it home to the party.

"This will be a scar on me to the day I die," said Manuel. "How could someone just hate our complexion that bad that they want to kill us?"

Mackniel’s former wife Tamu Tillman still carries the pain of the day.

"I'm still in shock a little bit because I was at work when it all happened, watching it all go down on TV," said Tillman. "And I was actually praying for everybody."

The two said their hearts broke for all the families whose lives were changed by the senseless slaying. 

"Death is a part of life. It just hurts the way some of us leave," said Manuel.

Manuel said remembering Mackniel still hurts, especially in looking through his obituary. He finds peace in knowing his nephew is with God.

"I miss him truly, dearly," Manuel said. "There'll never be another Andre."