Mass Shooting in Buffalo-Riootech
The massacre at a Buffalo supermarket was the deadliest in America this year.
Follow our live coverage of the Buffalo mass shooting.
A gunman representing white supremacist ideology opened fire at a convenience store in a predominantly black neighborhood of Buffalo yesterday afternoon, killing ten people and wounding three. The mass shooting is the deadliest shooting in the United States this year and has been the spate of racist attacks in recent years.
The 18-year-old suspect, Payton S. Gendron, drove more than 200 miles to carry out the attack and broadcast live as he shot shoppers and store employees. He was arrested at the store and briefly appeared in court and pleaded not guilty.
Around the same time, a manifesto attributed to him appeared on the Internet, repeatedly invoking the racist idea that white Americans were at risk of being replaced by people of color. This view, known as "alternative theory," was once associated with the far right but has become increasingly mainstream.
Among the dead were a security guard and an 86-year-old mother of four who stopped at the store on her way home to visit the nursing home where her husband lived.
How the shooting unfolded
Shoppers filled the Tops supermarket around 2.30pm, and the suspect arrived wearing body armor, tactical gear and a helmet with a camera. Holding an assault rifle with anti-black lettering on the barrel, he started shooting in the parking lot. Three victims were killed outside and one was injured.
The suspect then entered the store and continued the attack, killing him after a brief firefight with security. He continued to stalk the victim in the store; "corpses were everywhere," a witness said.
Store manager Shonnell Harris told Buffalo News she heard an estimated 70 gunshots, then ran over the top, fell repeatedly, and fled to the back.
The gunman eventually returned to the front of the store. By then, the police had arrived, and he briefly held a gun around his neck, before beginning to take off his tactical gear in a sign of surrender, and officers caught him.
The victims
Of the 13 people shot, 11 were black and two were white. The four work at Tops grocery store. Few have been publicly confirmed.
The security guard who was killed was a former police officer -- "a hero in our eyes," said Buffalo Police Chief Joseph A. Gramaria.
Ruth Whitfield, 86, a mother of four and a "motherless mother," her son told The News. Her husband moved into a nursing home a few years ago, and she still attends every day. According to WGRZ, she had just visited him when she stopped for a bite at Tops.
The suspect
The attack appeared to have been inspired by previous mass shootings motivated by racial hatred, including a 2019 shooting at a mosque in New Zealand and a massacre at a Walmart in Texas that same year, the manifesto said.
The document outlines a plan to kill as many black people as possible in chilling detail, including what type of weapons to use, schedules, specific parking spots and where to eat beforehand.
Gendron wrote that he chose the area where the supermarket is located because his neighborhood has the highest percentage of black residents, in New York's predominantly white South. Police surrounded his home outside Binghamton, New York, overnight.
"This was a purely racially motivated hate crime," said local sheriff John Garcia.
Federal police officials said they were investigating the shooting as a hate crime. The next court hearing is scheduled for Thursday.
For More
- How the shooting happened as we know it.
- 'This is our store': Witnesses describe the scene.
- Churches in Buffalo have scheduled prayer services today.
- At least 17 people were injured in a shooting in Milwaukee.
- Follow us for updates.
