An investigation into weekend shoot Among more than a dozen people at a western New York supermarket will on Monday see if authorities missed the warning signs and red flags left by the teenage gunman ahead of the discriminatory killing. his race or not.
Authorities say 18-year-old Payton Gendron committed “extreme racially motivated violence” when he opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle on May 14 at Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo, where 11 of the 13 injured were Black.
“The evidence we have discovered so far is infallible this is an absolute racist hate crime that will be prosecuted as a hate crime,” Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia told reporters on Sunday.
Besides seeking a clearer understanding of Gendron’s attack motive, authorities will focus on what could have been done to stop him, as details of disruptive behavior of the teenager in high school and his online presence began to emerge.
Gramaglia told ABC News on Monday morning that if Gendron escaped, he would continue his assault.
“He plans to keep driving down Jefferson Ave to shoot more Negroes…maybe to another store. [or] location,” said Gramaglia.
Gendron was found on local law enforcement radar last June, when police arrested him after he made a “generalized” threat at his high school, Gramaglia speak.
Having been assessed for his mental health at the time, he was released after a day and a half.
A 180-page manifesto circulating online, allegedly authored by Gendron, outlines the “Great Alternative Theory,” a racist conspiracy theory that claims whites are being displaced by minorities in the United States and elsewhere.
Another online document written by Gendron outlines a to-do list for the attack, including gun cleaning and a live stream test, which he will use to retweet it on social media.
Gendron surrendered to police after the shooting and was charged with first-degree murder, which carries a maximum term in New York of life in prison without parole, but he pleaded not guilty.
Authorities said Gendron drove to Buffalo from his home hours before the attack to conduct a “reconnaissance” of the area.
On Saturday afternoon, he drove to the grocery store, where he began the attack, which he livestreamed on the social networking platform Twitch, a live video service owned by Amazon.com .
Dressed in tactical gear, Gendron opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle he had purchased legally, but then illegally modified. In his vehicle, authorities found two other firearms, an assault rifle and a shotgun.
US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will visit Buffalo on Tuesday, the White House said in a statement.
‘Sustainable movement’
Speaking before Sunday’s service at Macedonian Missionary Baptist Church, Buffalo teenager Jaylah Bell told Reuters the shooting had scared him off going to certain locations.
“This is really an eye-opener,” the 14-year-old said, adding that he was on his way from the grocery store at the time of the shooting.
“I think I’ll be closer to my parents instead of going out with my friends, just to feel more secure.”
All seats in the church were cleared as people gathered to support the families of the victims, with fans being turned on to alleviate the lack of air conditioning.
Reverand Julian Cook told the congregation: “We are not here for another ‘kumbaya’ moment. “Thinking and praying is not enough. We need sustainable movements.”
At nearby True Bethel Baptist Church, a crowd of worshipers held a mourning service, including some family members of the victims and others who were in the store at the time of the incident. out shooting.
Among them is Charles Everhart Sr, 65, whose nephew Zaire Goodman, 20, works there.
Everhart said: “He was pushing the cart back to the store and he was one of the first to get hit. Despite being shot in the neck, Goodman survived.
The Buffalo incident follows targeted mass murders in recent years, such as Atlanta spa shooting in March 2021, in which a white man kills eight people, targeting Asians, and one Pittsburgh synagogue attack in October 2018 resulted in 11 deaths.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland over the weekend said the US Department of Justice was investigating the incident as a hate crime and an act of racially motivated violent extremism.
On Monday, U.S. Representative Liz Cheney said on Twitter that Republican leadership in the House of Representatives has triggered white nationalism, white supremacy and anti-Semitism. .
Republican leadership in the House of Representatives has enabled white nationalism, white supremacy, and anti-Semitism. History has taught us that what begins with words ends much worse. @GOP leaders must abandon and reject these views and those who hold them.
– Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) May 16, 2022
New York Governor Kathy Hochul said she was disappointed that the suspect had live-streamed her attack on social media, which she said had staged a “madness” of violent extremism.
Social media and streaming platforms like Twitch, which said they deleted the live stream within two minutes, have struggled for years with the task of controlling violent and extremist content.
“Users have been indefinitely suspended from our service and we are taking all appropriate action, including monitoring any accounts that replay this content,” a spokesperson for the company said in a statement. Twitch said.
