New York supermarket mass shooter not guilty of first-degree murder after attack that killed 10 people
An 18-year-old white man is in police custody after allegedly carrying out a mass shooting at a New York supermarket on Saturday. Based on CNN, Judge Craig Hannah sued Payton S. Gendron in Buffalo City Court and charged him with first-degree murder. The suspected shooter has pleaded not guilty. US Attorney General Merrick Garland said authorities were investigating the mass shooting “as a hate crime and an act of racially motivated violent extremism”.
“We will bring all the resources of the federal government to work on this case,” FBI Special Agent Stephen Belongia said at a news conference. “This is the number one priority of the Department of Justice, and I can assure the citizens of this community that whatever we can do at the federal level with this case will be done. And justice will be served to the victims.”
Police believe mass shooter posted a racist & anti-immigration manifesto
Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said Payton arrived at the Tops Friendly Market in tactical gear at 2:30 p.m. local time and streamed it via the camera mounted on his helmet. Payton is not from Buffalo and reports say he drove several hours to get to this particular supermarket located in this predominantly Black residential area.
He then allegedly shot 13 people, 11 of whom were Black. So far, ten people have died from the attack. A spokesperson for the Erie County Medical Center told CNN that the two are still hospitalized.
Based on The New York Times, A law enforcement official said police were also investigating an online manifesto. Apparently, officials believe the suspected shooter posted the manifesto. The document highlights ‘great alternative theory.’ The theory is that white Americans are at risk of being displaced by non-whites. The document is said to be “fraught with racist, anti-immigrant views.”
Payton is reported to, “just go for it,” as he walks into the front of the Tops store. The Twitch stream also shows an anti-Black slur (letter n, hard R) written on the barrel of the weapon used in the attack.
Twitch confirms the alleged shooter used their platform to stream
Based on CNN, Twitch confirmed that Payton used their platform to live-stream the footage. A company spokesperson said Twitch removed the live stream less than two minutes after the attacks began. Twitch also “indefinitely suspended” the suspected shooter from their platform.
Payton shot four people in the parking lot, killing three. He then entered the store, opened fire on customers before a retired Buffalo Police officer who was working in a security role tried to stop him. Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said security guards fired several times at Payton, but his tactical equipment prevented injuries. The suspected shooter returned fire, attacked the guard, and continued his aggressive behavior.
When police arrived and confronted Payton, he had a gun to his neck. However, the two patrolmen convinced the gunman to drop his weapon and surrender.
Court scheduled Payton another appearance on Thursday at 9:30 a.m. ET, every CNN. This is an evolving story.
