Bryson Tiller pays for groceries at Kroger and Pic Pac in Louisv - WDRB 41 Louisville News

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Some local senior citizens got a big surprise Tuesday when someone paid for their groceries.

But the bigger shock came when they learned about the famous singer footing the bill.

It was supposed to be a quick trip to the Kroger in downtown Louisville on Tuesday until Joann Samuels met a stranger.

"He said, 'Why don't you fill up that whole basket,'" Samuels recalled. "I said, 'What do you mean fill up the whole basket?' He said, 'Fill it up, and I'll pay for it.'"

She was skeptical at first.

"I looked at him. He looked like a clean cut guy. I was a little bit apprehensive, because you know, you can't trust everyone nowadays. I said, 'I just can't believe this, I've never had this happen to me.' And he said, 'This is my way of giving back at Christmas time.' And I said, 'Are you an entertainer?' He said, 'Uh, something like that.'"

At the Pic Pac on Taylor Boulevard, customers and cashiers knew exactly who the man was when he walked in.

"The whole store froze," said Jaron Alexander, an employee at the store. "Like, they turned and was just looking, and I'm like, 'What's everybody looking at?'"

"I just looked over, and I just saw his face, and then I was like telling my mom and sister, 'I think that's Bryson Tiller,'" said Kendrick James, a high school freshman. "And my mom was like, 'Ain't no way that's Bryson Tiller. I don't think he'd be in Louisville right now.'"

James' Sister, LaShora Davis, went straight up to the man.

"And I asked him, I said, 'Excuse me, are you Bryson Tiller?' And he said, 'Yes.'

"And I was screaming so loud the whole store heard me! He started laughing and smiling and everything. He was so nice and humble," Davis said.

Tiller is the rising R&B star from Louisville who is nominated for a Grammy award.

At the Pic Pac, he paid for a few senior citizens' groceries.

"He was like, 'I'm home for the holidays, and I just came to give back to my city. I grew up in the south end, and I shop in here a lot, and I want to give back,'" Alexander recalled.

At Kroger, Samuels put a few special items in her cart.

"I went over to the meat counter, and I asked the guys, 'Do you have any spare ribs?'"

When she got to the checkout lanes, sure enough, the kind stranger was waiting for her.

She said he paid for the lady in front of her too, who had a bill close to $100.

"This must be really true," Samuels though. "He must really be paying for my groceries!"

She showed off her receipt for $59.81, which she has hanging on her refrigerator.

"And he said, 'Just be blessed, and by the way, my name is Bryson.' I said, 'Thank you so much, Bryson." 

Now, she knows just who she met.

"He said, 'It really makes me feel good to be able to do this.' And I said, 'Thank you so much.'"

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