Authorities believe Gendron traveled more than 200 miles from his home in Conklin, NY, in the state’s Southern Steps, to carry out his attack, choosing the East Side of Buffalo because it has so many residents. moke.
In a lengthy speech that Gendron, who is white, is said to have written and posted online in the days before the attack, he expressed admiration for other gunmen in the discriminatory attacks. race and mention again and again a white supremacy ideology known as substitution theory, which imagines a sinister plan to “replace” white Americans with immigrants or people of color.
Mr. Gendron’s posts on Discord also show he can circumvent New York state laws – known as “red flags” laws – designed to prevent people deemed dangerous from owning guns. In 2021, Mr Gendron was picked up by state police and taken for a mental health assessment at a hospital after indicating during a school project that he wanted to commit a “murder-suicide.” .
However, he was released, after telling officials he was only joking, which he said was a lie in a Discord post.
“It’s not a joke,” he wrote on Discord. “I wrote that down because that’s what I was going to do.”
Since the Buffalo shootings and the Uvalde horrors, lawmakers in Albany have proposed a series of new measures to tighten the state’s already strict gun laws, including raising the age to 21 to possessing a semi-automatic rifle. These bills are expected to pass the Democratic-dominated Legislature this week.
Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, announced a pair of executive orders in connection with the Buffalo attack, including one that required the State Police to seek red flag orders from judges “whenever they have a good reason” that someone may pose a danger for themselves or others. Hochul also ordered police to “monitor violent extremism in the country through social media,” similar to the channels Gendron is said to have used.
Susan C. Beachy research contributions.
