Gunman Kills 10 at Buffalo Supermarket in Racist Attack. President Biden called for a thorough investigation, and said there was no harbor for “hate-filled domestic terrorism.” The 18-year-old white gunman, who pleaded not guilty, left behind a manifesto.
The shooting began in the parking lot. At about 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, after driving from hours away, a heavily armed man appeared outside a Tops supermarket. He was wearing tactical gear and body armor, with a video camera fixed to his helmet. He was carrying an assault rifle, with an anti-Black slur written on the barrel.
Then he opened fire.
Buffalo shooter, 18, planned attack for MONTHS before driving three hours to gun down 10 in supermarket ambush motivated by his hatred of black people: First two victims are named.
A teenaged gunman who allegedly murdered 10 people at a Buffalo supermarket planned the attack for months before he drove for three hours to carry out the vile ambush that was believed to be motivated by the white supremacist’s hated of black people.
Payton Gendron, 18, of Conklin, NY, pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder following Saturday’s attack. He is being held without bail and faces life in prison. Gendron is due back in court on Thursday.
Helmet Buffalo shooting Video Footage Link
Police say the rambling text of a 180-page manifesto that Gendron posted before going on his rampage, included a plan of the attack which detailed driving several counties away to carry out the shooting at the Tops Friendly Market.
‘The shooter traveled hours from outside this community to perpetrate this crime on the people of Buffalo, a day when people were enjoying the sunshine, enjoying family, enjoying friends,’ Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said at a Saturday evening news conference.
‘People in a supermarket, shopping and bullets raining down on them. People’s lives being snuffed out in an instant for no reason.’
Gendron identified himself as a white supremacist in his manifesto, as he explained his fears that white people are being replaced by other races, police said.
Thirteen people were shot, with three suffering non-life threatening injuries. Out of 13 of those victims, 11 were African American and two were White, authorities said.
Four of the people shot were store employees, authorities said Saturday. A security guard was killed and three other store employees suffered ‘non-fatal wounds.’
The two victims who have been named as of Sunday are Aaron Salter, a retired cop who was working as a store security guard, and shopper Ruth Whitfield, an 86 year-old grandmother, who is also the mother of former Buffalo fire commissioner Garnell Witfield.
The FBI is investigating the shooting as both a hate crime and a case of racially motivated violent extremism, said Stephen Belongia, FBI special agent in charge of the Buffalo field office.