Buffalo shooting kills 10 in supermarket, described as ‘racially motivated’
- 13 people were shot, 10 of them fatally, on Saturday afternoon at a Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo, New York.
- The Associated Press identified the suspect as Payton Gendron of Conklin, New York.
- Law enforcement officials called the shooting a “racially motivated hate crime”.
Ten people were killed and three others injured in a “racially motivated” shooting at a supermarket in a predominantly black neighborhood of Buffalo, New York, authorities said.
Officials said the suspected shooter, an 18-year-old white man, traveled to Buffalo for several hours to carry out the attack, which he broadcast live on social media. Eleven of the 13 people who were shot were black, Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said at a news conference.
The suspect was taken into custody after the attack, Gramaglia added. He was identified as Payton Gendron of Conklin, a New York community about 200 miles southeast of Buffalo, two law enforcement officials told The Associated Press. The officials were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter and did so on condition of anonymity.
“It was pure evil,” Erie County Sheriff John Garcia said. “This was a racially motivated hate crime committed by someone outside of our community.”
The supermarket is about three miles north of downtown Buffalo and residents describe it as the heart of the city’s black community. The surrounding area is mostly residential and is surrounded by homes, as well as a Family Dollar store, hair salons, laundromat, and fire station. Authorities said evidence showed the suspect exhibited racial animosity, but declined to give further details.
Gramaglia said the shooter was wearing tactical gear and was armed with an assault rifle. He parked outside Tops Friendly Market around 2:30 p.m. ET and opened fire in the parking lot, killing three people and injuring a fourth. He then went inside and continued his rampage, Gramaglia said.
A retired Buffalo police officer, who worked as a security guard at the store, confronted the shooter and shot him. Authorities said the shooter was hit, but his tactical gear prevented him from being injured.
The shooter fired back, killing the guard.
The shooter made his way through the store, shooting others before being met by law enforcement near the lobby. Authorities said the shooter had his gun pointed at his head and authorities were able to negotiate his surrender.
“This is the worst nightmare any community can face, and we’re hurting and bubbling right now,” Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said at a news conference. “The depth of pain the families are feeling and that we are all feeling right now cannot even be explained.”
The Buffalo attack and early determination that the assault was racially motivated drew early parallels to the 2019 attack in El Paso, Texas, where a gunman confessed to traveling hundreds of miles to target Hispanics at a local Walmart. The Texas attack left 23 dead. In the Buffalo case, a law enforcement official said, investigators are looking at paperwork allegedly linked to the shooter indicating the assault was motivated by hate.
The shooting also came nearly seven years after the racially motivated attack at a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina, that left nine people dead and sent shock waves across the country.
“We are investigating this incident as both a hate crime and a case of racially motivated violent extremism,” said Stephen Belongia, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Buffalo field office.
Over the past year, FBI Director Christopher Wray has repeatedly warned of the threat posed by racially motivated violent extremists, telling Congress that such cases represent the “biggest chunk” of the bureau’s investigations into domestic terrorism. The same group, Wray told a Senate committee last year, was responsible for the deadliest attacks of the past decade.
Erie County District Attorney John Flynn said the suspect was arraigned Saturday night for first-degree murder.
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Authorities say the shooter broadcast the attack live on social media. Footage shows the shooter, dressed in military gear, stopping at the front of the store with a rifle in the front seat, then pointing the rifle at people in the parking lot as he exited the vehicle and opened the fire, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.
It also shows the suspect entering the supermarket and shooting several other victims, the official said.
Authorities were also investigating whether he posted a manifesto online, the official said.
Braedyn Kephart and Shane Hill, both 20, said they had just pulled into the store’s parking lot when they saw the suspected shooter drive off and be arrested.
“He was standing there with the gun to his chin. We were like what’s going on? Why does this kid have a gun to his face?” Kephart said. He fell to his knees. “He ripped off his helmet, dropped his gun and was tackled by the police.”
Police sealed off the block, lined with onlookers, and yellow police surrounded the entire parking lot. Mayor Byron Brown and Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz were at the scene late Saturday afternoon, meeting in a parking lot across from the Tops store.
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President Joe Biden has been briefed on the attack and was praying for those affected, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
NAACP President Derrick Johnson called the shooting “absolutely devastating.”
“Our hearts are with the community and all those affected by this terrible tragedy. Hate and racism have no place in America. We are shocked, extremely angry and praying for the families and loved ones of the victims,” he added in a statement.
Reverend Al Sharpton posted a series of messages on Twitter, calling on the White House to convene a meeting with Black, Jewish and Asian people “to emphasize that the feds are (scaling up) their efforts against hate crimes.” He added that “the leaders of all these communities should unite on this!”
New York Governor Kathy Hochul said she was “watching closely” the shooting and had offered help to those in her hometown of Buffalo. according to his Twitter account.
Buffalo is New York’s second largest city, with a population of over 278,000 people.
Contributor: Diana Dombrowski, Newspaper; The Associated Press.
USA Today
