Page 56 - Florida Sentinel 5-20-22

National
Buffalo Shooting Suspect Planned To Continue Rampage Down Street, Police Say
The 18-year-old man ac- cused of storming a Buffalo, New York, supermarket Sat- urday and killing 10 and in- juring three others planned to continue his bloody ram- page down the street before he was stopped, police said.
Suspect Payton Gen- dron livestreamed the mo- ment he opened fire in the parking lot of Tops Friendly Market at around 2:30 p.m. and continued shooting in- side the store while dressed in tactical gear, police said. He was ultimately arrested at the scene.
Police are calling the at- tack a hate crime as 11 of 13 people who were shot were Black — and there could have been more victims if he had-
PAYTON GENDRON
n't been stopped.
“It appeared that his
plans were to drive out of here and continue driving down Jefferson Avenue look- ing to shoot more Black peo- ple as he could and possibly go to another store location,” Buffalo Police Commissioner
Authorities confirm 10 people died as a result of a racially motivated mass shooting at a Tops grocery store in Buffalo, New York.
ple in his vicinity.
He had also been investi-
gated by New York State Po- lice last year for making a threatening statement in June about wanting to carry out a shooting, a senior law enforcement official said.
The suspect was a minor at the time, the official said. He was transported to a hos- pital for a mental health eval- uation and was not charged with a crime.
Gendron, of Conklin, New York, was arraigned Saturday evening in Buffalo City Court on one count of murder in the first degree, the Erie County District At- torney’s Office said.
He was remanded with- out bail and a felony hearing was scheduled for Thursday morning, according to the of- fice.
Erie County Sheriff John Garcia said the suspect was being monitored on suicide watch and will be given men- tal health services as needed.
In a Twitter statement, the FBI's Buffalo field office said it was working with local, state and federal au- thorities on investigating the deadly attack.
Joseph Gramaglia said on ABC’s “Good Morning Amer- ica."
Police said in a news con-
ference Sunday that the sus- pect “did some reconnais- sance on the area and in the store,” before the shooting.
The suspect also ap- peared to be active in online gun communities and posted extremist views. Senior law enforcement officials said they believe he wrote a 180- page “manifesto” posted on- line that cites a racist conspiracy theory frequently promoted by white suprema- cists.
The document claims the suspect chose Buffalo be- cause it was the city with the highest number of Black peo-
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