US President Joe Biden on Monday praised security guard Aaron Salter Jr., who died Saturday while trying to protect the grocery store customers during a mass shooting in Buffalo. Biden’s comments came a day ahead of his planned visit to meet the families of the victims.

Salter, 55, pulled his gun and opened fire on body armor-clad suspect Payton Gendron. However, the security guard was fatally shot along with nine other people.

“We pay tribute to all law enforcement officers and families who understand what it takes, what’s at risk to save and protect all of us,” Biden said at a White House event. At the event, Biden presented the Medal of Valor to 15 other heroic police officers and firefighters.

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“And that includes paying tribute to the Buffalo police officer Aaron Salter — Slater, excuse me — who gave his life trying to save others when a gunman shot and killed 10 innocent people in a grocery store in Buffalo on Saturday,” the president went on. “He actually was able to shoot the assailant twice, but he [Gendron] had on a bulletproof vest. And he [Salter] lost his life in the process. No one understands more than all of you here today the pain and anguish those families in Buffalo feel.”

On Sunday, local police labelled the mass shooting motivated by anti-black racism. Gendron, 18, is accused of shooting 13 people, 11 of whom were black.

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Biden is scheduled to visit Buffalo on Tuesday to meet with members of the community affected by the tragedy.

The visit was announced on Sunday by the White House. First lady Jill Biden will also likely accompany the president “to grieve with the community that lost ten lives in a senseless and horrific mass shooting.”

In a speech on Sunday at the National Peace Officers’ Memorial Service outside the U.S. Capitol, Biden condemned the hatred as “a stain on the soul of America” that Americans should root out.

“A lone gunman armed with weapons of war and hate-filled soul shot and killed 10 innocent people in cold blood in a grocery store on Saturday afternoon,” the president said. “Jill and I with all of you pray for the victims and their families and a devastated community.”

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On Sunday, Buffalo police identified the victims as Roberta Drury, 32, of Buffalo; Margus Morrison, 52, of Buffalo; Andre Mackneil, 53, of Auburn, N.Y.; Aaron Salter, 55, of Lockport, N.Y.; Geraldine Talley, 62, of Buffalo; Celestine Chaney, 65, of Buffalo; Heyward Patterson, 67, of Buffalo; Katherine Massey, 72, of Buffalo; Pearl Young, 77, of Buffalo; Ruth Whitfield, 86, of Buffalo.