Payton Gendron: Buffalo store shooter pleads guilty to murder of 10 people and domestic terrorism
BUFFALO, NEW YORK: Payton Gendron has confessed to all state charges levied against him in a racist mass shooting attack at a Buffalo supermarket. The 19-year-old man pleaded guilty to killing 10 people and injuring three others in the first degree and one count of domestic terrorism "motivated by hate." His defense attorneys announced on Monday, November 28, that Gendron will be sentenced to life in prison without parole. In attorney Brian Parker’s words, this "represents a condemnation" of the racist ideologies that led to the attack in May.
The Conklin, New York resident had previously denied any involvement in state and federal charges against him for several months after the tragic incident took place. Gendron had surrendered to police after carrying a heinous crime and was held in Erie County while awaiting a court hearing. As per the grand jury, he was held on 25 counts, including 10 counts of first-degree murder as a hate crime, 10 counts of second-degree murder as a hate crime, three counts of attempted murder as a hate crime, and another count of criminal possession of a weapon in a June ruling.
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In the indictment, the court charged him with domestic terrorism motivated by hate in the first degree, claiming Gendron's attack was crafted and intentional as he targeted people who were killed and wounded "because of the perceived race and/or color of such person or persons." According to the investigators, the attacker, who was 18 years old at the time of the incident, opened fire outside, and later inside, a Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo. Later, the authorities found his ties with White supremacy and extremist ideologies. All the victims that died in the attack were Black, including one of the three wounded individuals who survived, reports CBS News.
Gendron still faces 14 charges of hate crime, under federal law that lead up to death or involve an attempt to kill, and another set of 13 charges for using a firearm while carrying out a hate crime. As per these charges, the guilty can be slapped with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment or the death penalty. The Department of Justice stated that Attorney General Merrick Garland will take the call on whether to seek the death penalty soon.
The people who had died in the shooting were identified as Andre Mackniel, 53; Katherine Massey, 72; Celestine Chaney, 65; Roberta A Drury, 32; Margus D Morrison, 52; Heyward Patterson, 67; Geraldine Talley, 62; Ruth Whitfield, 86; and Pearl Young, 77, as per the report.