The action occurred on Saturday, May 14, 2022 in a grocery store in the city of Buffalo located in the state of New York in the United States. The shooter, a white man broadcast online, showing himself killing 10 people and injuring three others in a historically black neighborhood of the Big Apple.
This is a “racially motivated hate crime,” Erie County Sheriff John Garcia told the media. The suspect has been identified as 18-year-old Payton Gendron.
According to witnesses and law enforcement, the shooter was wearing a bulletproof vest and armed with a high-powered rifle as he broadcast the massacre live. Investigators are examining a hate-filled manifesto the suspect allegedly posted online.
The FBI is investigating the case “as both a hate crime and racially motivated violent extremism,” said Stephen Belongia, special agent in charge of Buffalo, who said the investigation is the Justice Department’s top priority.
Of the 13 victims, 11 are black and two are white, according to Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia.
After his arrest, alleged killer Payton Gendron, 18, of Conklin, New York, was charged with first-degree murder in Buffalo Municipal Court and held without bail.
At a news conference, Erie County District Attorney John Flynn said a felony hearing would be held in five days, indicating that his office was considering terrorism charges against the felon, as well as “other murder charges. He said he is working with the federal government “so that they can perhaps file charges as well” while promising that justice will be served for the victims.
New York State Governor Kathy Hochul described the killing as “a military-style execution aimed at people who simply want to shop at a local store.”
“It strikes us to the core of our hearts to know that such evil lurks,” she said at a press conference, adding that it was her “sincere hope” that the suspect “spends the rest of his days behind bars.”
Just hours after the Buffalo attack, a shooting was reported outside the Grand Central Market in Los Angeles. One person was killed and others were forced to run from the popular eatery.
Shootings and serial killings in the United States in public places are tragically almost daily and gun crime is on the rise in major cities like New York, Chicago, Miami or San Francisco, especially since the 2020 pandemic wrote France 24 on its website.
According to the organization Gun Violence Archive in 2021, firearms have caused nearly 45,000 deaths in the United States, including about 24,000 suicides.
Combined sources