'Virginia Sorenson': Payton Gendron wrote Waukesha parade victim’s name on his gun
BUFFALO, NEW YORK: The 'racially motivated' teen who gunned down ten people and three injured others at a Buffalo supermarket had marked his gun with the name of a victim from the Waukesha tragedy. Payton Gendron had misspelled the name of Virginia Sorenson, a member of the 'Dancing Grannies' parade troupe, who was killed in the Christmas parade. Written across his rifle was also the N-word.
Sorenson was one of the victims of the November 21, 2021, tragedy where an SUV plowed into a parade in Waukesha, killing 5 people and injuring over 40. The driver was arrested and identified as Darrell Brooks, a career criminal who had seven open criminal cases against him at the time of the incident.
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— Empowerfy (@empowerfy) May 14, 2022
Virginia Sorenson is pretty clear. #Buffalo #BuffaloNY pic.twitter.com/LuAwEPqGtN
The Milwaukee Dancing Grannies is a choreographed dance/pompom group that was part of the parade. Virginia Sorenson, 79, was an instructor and choreographer for the Dancing Grannies. She had been with the group for as many as 19 years. She reportedly loved animals and cared for horses, chickens, dogs, and cats at her home in Muskego. She was a former registered nurse.
Videos of the horrific incident, which went viral on social media, showed a red Ford Escape smashing through white barricades before racing down the road towards a high school marching band. The car drove right through the parade as screams filled the air, running over people and driving away as the crowd scattered.
Payton Gendron, 18, drove from 'hours away' in Conklin, New York, to the Tops market on Jefferson Avenue. The shooting took place in a predominantly Black neighborhood. Eleven of the victims were Black and two of them were White. “We are investigating this incident as both a hate crime and a case of racially-motivated violent extremism,” said Stephen Belongia, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Buffalo field office said during a press conference. Erie County Sheriff John Garcia said, "This was pure evil. It was a straight-up racially motivated hate crime."
Gendron arrived at the market at around 2:30 pm. He “was very heavily armed. He had tactical gear on. He had a tactical helmet on,” Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said. He confirmed that Gendron even had a camera to live stream the shooting.
The suspected perpetrator of the massacre in Buffalo wrote while in high school about wanting to carry out a mass shooting, prompting school officials to inform police, according to a law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation. Last June, Gendron was even sent for a mental health evaluation when he made a generalized threat, but he was released soon after.
Gendron is currently being held under direct observation and video surveillance separate from other detainees and is on suicide watch, Garcia said. Authorities said he likely planned out his racially motivated attack for months. Police came to this conclusion based on the roughly 180-page manifesto he posted before going on his rampage. The rambling text included a detailed plan of his assault on the Tops Friendly Market.