LOADING

Type to search

Law and Order National News

Gunman targets Black supermarket in Buffalo, Communities around the country on edge

Share

 

From schools and colleges to grocery stores, churches, and other institutions that cater to the Black community, citizens are on edge after a lone teenage gunman opened fire with a rifle at a Buffalo, New York supermarket killing 10 people and wounding three others. 

The supermarket is in a predominantly Black neighborhood a few miles north of downtown Buffalo. Authorities described the shootings as having been carried out by someone who possessed “racially motivated violent extremism.” The suspected gunman had been identified as Payton Gendron, of Conklin, a New York state community about 200 miles southeast of Buffalo. 

Wearing military gear and live-streaming his massacre with a helmet camera, the 18-year-old white gunman surrendered to police once they arrived on the scene and confronted the shooter after he had shot over a dozen people, with at least 10 dying from their injuries.   

Arriving at the supermarket wearing body armor and tactical military-style clothing, and a tactical helmet with a camera that live-streamed his moves, the heavily armed Gendron exited his car and opened fire at people in the parking lot of Tops Friendly Market. Gendron shot four people outside the store, three fatally before he turned his attention to the supermarket.

Gendron entered the supermarket where he encountered a retired Buffalo police officer who fired multiple shots at the gunman. He struck him, but Gendron’s bulletproof vest protected him from injury. Gendron executed the security guard.  The video captured Gendron as he walked around the supermarket where he shot several other victims. Police identified 11 of the victims as Black and two as white. 

Buffalo police entered the store and confronted Gendron. He initially put the gun to his own neck but police talked the suspect into dropping the gun and surrendering. 

Police later learned that Gendron had posted a hate-filled manifesto online that included an account of detailed planning for the attack and an explanation of his motives and inspiration, according to a senior federal law enforcement official.

Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said, “This is the worst nightmare that any community can face, and we are hurting and we are seething right now. The depth of pain that families are feeling and that all of us are feeling right now cannot even be explained.” 

Gendron was arraigned in court Saturday evening on first-degree murder charges and ordered detained without bail. Another court hearing is scheduled for next week. 

Erie County Sheriff John Garcia pointedly called the shooting a hate crime. “This was pure evil. It was straight-up racially motivated hate crime from somebody outside of our community, outside of the City of Good neighbors … coming into our community and trying to inflict that evil upon us,” Garcia said.

NAACP President Derrick Johnson issued a statement in which he called the shooting “absolutely devastating.” “Our hearts are with the community and all who have been impacted by this terrible tragedy. Hate and racism have no place in America. We are shattered, extremely angered, and praying for the victims’ families and loved ones.” 

This mass shooting is the latest massacre driven by a white

supremacist ideology, following similar acts of violence in recent years. Earlier this year, Historical Black Colleges and Universities found themselves the target of numerous bomb threats. The Buffalo community and others around the country are on edge as they wait for possible copycats.

The Rev. Al Sharpton called on the White House to convene a meeting with Black, Jewish, and Asian people “to underscore the Federal government (is) escalating its efforts against hate crimes.” In a tweet, Sharpton said that “leaders of all these communities should stand together on this!” 

The shooting came little more than a year after a March 2021 attack at a King Soopers grocery in Boulder, Colorado, killing 10 people.

Tags:

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *