The shooting started in the parking lot. At about 2:30 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, after driving for hours, a heavily armed man appeared outside the Tops supermarket. He wears tactical gear and armor, with a video camera attached to his helmet. He was carrying an assault rifle, the barrel of which was written Anti-Black slur.
Then he opened fire.
Three of his external victims were killed, police said later. One person was injured.
He then walked into a crowded grocery store and continued his aggressive behavior, streaming the footage live online.
A retired Buffalo police officer on guard duty fired multiple shots at the gunman. Authorities said the suspect was hit but was wearing armor and tried to return fire, killing the security guard.
According to police, he shot shoppers and employees, leaving traces of bodies in the aisles. Screenshots of the broadcast circulating online have appeared to show the shooter, at one point, holding a gun and standing over a body.
Shonell Harris, an operations director at Tops, told The Buffalo News that she was queuing on a shelf when she heard a loud noise and saw people running towards the back of the store. Ms Harris tripped several times trying to run for her life, she said, before trying to get out through the back door. She estimates that she heard more than 70 shots.
And she saw the shooter. She told The Buffalo News: “He has things that are tiring in the military.
Eventually, the gunman returned to the front of the store, where he confronted Buffalo police in the lobby. He then put the gun to his neck, police commissioner Joseph A. Gramaglia said at a news conference.
Two patrol officers present at the scene persuaded the gunman to drop his gun, Gramaglia said. According to officials, he began removing some of his tactical gear when he surrendered. The police then arrested him, witnesses said Buffalo News.
In the end, 10 people died, with 3 suffering non-life-threatening injuries. Of the 13 people shot, 11 were Black.
At some point during filming, Dominique Calhoun pulled into the parking lot and was about to treat her two daughters to ice cream when suddenly people ran out of the store screaming. “It really could have been me,” she said.
