Official: Supermarket shooter sought out the black neighborhood | Health and fitness

Buffalo, New York (AP) – The 18-year-old white man who shot and killed 10 people in a Buffalo supermarket did a research on local demographics while looking for places with a high black population, and got there a day earlier At least, law enforcement officials said Sunday.

Authorities said the gunman shot a total of 11 blacks and two whites on Saturday in a rampage motivated by racial hatred that was broadcast live.

“This person came with the express purpose of killing as many black lives as possible,” Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said at a news conference on Sunday.

A law enforcement official told the Associated Press that the shooter, known as Payton Gendron, had previously threatened to shoot his high school last June. Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Grammaglia said the 17-year-old was brought in for a mental health assessment afterwards.

Meanwhile, federal authorities were still working to confirm the authenticity of a 180-page racist manifesto detailing the plot and identifying Gendron by name as the gunman, a law enforcement official told the Associated Press. But the shootings – the latest act of mass violence in a country unsettled by ethnic tensions, gun violence and a recent wave of hate crimes – have left locals devastated.

New York Governor Kathy Hochhol, a Buffalo native, also urged asking the tech industry to take responsibility for its role in spreading hate speech.

Hochul told ABC that the heads of tech companies “need to be held accountable and assure us all that they are taking every human step possible so that we can monitor this information.”

“How these bad ideas are brewing on social media – it’s spreading like a virus now,” she said Sunday, adding that a lack of oversight could prompt others to emulate the shooter.

Twitch said in a statement that it terminated Gendron’s transmission “less than two minutes after the violence began.”

The screenshots purportedly from the Twitch live stream appear to show a racist epithet written on the gun used in the attack, as well as the number 14, in a possible reference to the white supremacist logo.

“It’s too much. I try to testify but it’s too much. You can’t even go to the damn store in peace,” Yvonne Woodard of Buffalo told the Associated Press. “It’s just crazy.”

A preliminary investigation found that Gendron had repeatedly visited websites espousing white supremacist ideologies and race-based conspiracy theories and conducted extensive research into the 2019 mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand, the man who killed dozens at a summer camp in Norway in 2011, and law enforcement . The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press.

The manifesto, which was posted online and apparently written by Gendron, outlined a racist ideology rooted in the belief that the United States should belong only to white people. The document said all others were “substitutes” who should be eliminated by force or terror. She added that the attack was intended to intimidate all non-white and non-Christian people into leaving the country.

It wasn’t immediately clear why Gendron traveled 200 miles (320 kilometers) from Conklin, New York, the home of Buffalo and the specific grocery store, but investigators believe Gendron specifically looked at the demographics of the population around Top Friendly Market. The official said. The market is located in a predominantly black neighborhood.

In an interview Sunday with ABC, Gramglia said Gendron had been in town “at least the day before.”

“It seems that he came here to outline the area, to do some reconnaissance work in the area before he did his evil and disgusting job,” Grammaglia said.

The official said Gendron appeared on police radar last year after threatening to shoot at Susquehanna High School in time for graduation. The New York State Police said that soldiers were called to Conklin School on June 8, 2021, to obtain a report that a 17-year-old student made threatening statements.

The law enforcement official was not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation and did so on the condition of anonymity.

Encountered by the police in the vestibule of the store, Gendron puts a gun to his neck but is convinced to drop it. He appeared before a judge in a paper dress later on Saturday on a charge of premeditated murder.

Federal agents interviewed Gendron’s parents and filed multiple search warrants, a law enforcement official told the Associated Press. The official said Gendron’s parents were cooperating with investigators.

Among those killed was security guard Aaron Salter – a retired Buffalo police officer – who fired several shots at Gendron, Grammaglia said on Saturday. A bullet hit the gunman’s armor and had no effect. He then killed Gendron Salter before hunting down more victims.

“He cared about the community. He took care of the store,” Yvette Mack, who had shopped at Tops earlier on Saturday, said of Salter. “He did a good job, you know. He was very kind and respectful.”

Ruth Whitfield, 86, mother of retired Buffalo Fire Commissioner Garnell Whitfield, was also killed.

Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown told churchgoers that he saw the former fire official at the scene of the shooting Saturday, looking for his mother.

“My mother had just gone to see my father, as she does every day, at the nursing home and stopped at Tops to buy a few groceries. No one had heard of her. She was confirmed as a victim later in the day, Brown said.

Catherine Massey, who had gone to the store to buy some groceries, was also killed, according to Buffalo News. The names of the rest of the victims were not disclosed.

“We pray for their families. But after we pray — after we get off our knees — we have to demand change. We have to demand justice,” the state’s attorney general, Letitia James, said during a passionate service at church in Buffalo on Sunday morning. Plain and simple.”

The Buffalo attack came just one month after a subway shooting in Brooklyn that injured 10 and just over a year after a shooting at a supermarket in Colorado killed 10.

Associated Press reporter Robert Baumstead contributed reporting from Buffalo, New York. Balsamo reported from Washington.