Buffalo supermarket shooting suspect Payton Gendron faces federal hate crime charges, possible death penalty
Payton Gendron, the 18-year-old white man accused of hunting and killing 10 Black people in a Buffalo supermarket last month, could face the death penalty.
Prosecutors in the Western District of New York charged Gendron Wednesday with 10 counts of hate crime resulting in death, three counts involving bodily injury and attempt to kill, 10 counts of use of a firearm to commit murder and in retaliation to a crime of violence and three counts of use and discharge of a firearm during and in retaliation to a crime of violence.
The charges for use of a firearm to commit murder and in retaliation to a crime of violence carry the death penalty if prosecutors decide to pursue that.
“Gendron’s motive for the mass shooting was to prevent Black people from replacing white people and eliminating the white race, and to inspire others to commit similar attacks,” the criminal complaint reads.
Payton Gendron is led into the courtroom for a hearing at Erie County Court, in Buffalo, N.Y., Thursday, May 19, 2022. (Matt Rourke/)
On May 14, the teenager allegedly drove more than three hours from his hometown of Conklin, N.Y., to the Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo and opened fire with an AR-15-style rifle, according to officials.
Of the 13 victims, 11 were Black, including all 10 fatalities.
In a 180-page manifesto in Gendron’s name and posted online, the teenager allegedly wrote that he targeted Buffalo because it had the “highest Black percentage that is close enough to where I live.” He also allegedly had the N-word painted on the barrel of his modified assault weapon.
Gendron also reportedly shared his plans in a private Discord chat room, describing killing and mutilating a cat and being committed to a medical facility for psychiatric evaluation after he told his high school class that he planned to commit “murder/suicide,” according to the Washington Post. His alleged assault was livestreamed in that chat room.
He has already pleaded not guilty to state charges, including a domestic act of terrorism motivated by hate, 10 counts of first-degree murder, 10 counts of second-degree murder as a hate crime, three counts of attempted murder as a hate crime and criminal possession of a weapon.
Gendron faces a mandatory life sentence if convicted on the state charges.
“No one in this country should have to live in fear that they will go to work or shop at a grocery store and will be attacked by someone who hates them because of the color of their skin,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said Wednesday at a press conference in Buffalo, where he was meeting with victims’ families.
He said the Justice Department has procedures to decide whether or not to pursue the death penalty and that families and survivors of the massacre would be consulted as part of the process.
Garland announced a moratorium on federal executions last year after the Trump administration killed 13 prisoners in six months.
Gendron is due back in court Thursday morning for his arraignment on the federal charges.
With News Wire Services
