More details have become available after Saturday’s (May 14) racist massacre at a Tops Friendly Markets store in Buffalo, New York.
Today (May 17), reports circulated online that the suspected gunman Payton S. Gendron allegedly wrote racist messages all over the weapon used in the crime.
The suspect allegedly used a black Bushmaster XM-15 assault rifle with the word “Nigger” on the barrel. Other messages visible on the rifle reportedly said, “Here’s your reparations,” “Dylan Roof,” “John Earnest” and “SYGAOWN.”
Roof is described as a 28-year-old white supremacist, neo-Nazi, mass murderer and domestic terrorist. On June 17, 2015, Roof entered a Charleston, South Carolina church and fatally shot nine Black people in a planned, racist attack.
Earnest is a 22-year-old white male sentenced to life plus 30 years for federal hate crimes after the 2019 Poway Synagogue shooting and attempted mosque arson in San Diego.
SYGAOWN reportedly stands for Stop Your Genocide Against Our White Nations. Gendron was linked to a reported white supremacist manifesto that allegedly discussed race replacement theories. Authorities are still investigating the document, however. The theories suggested that growing Black and other minority populations “will ultimately result in the complete racial and cultural replacement of the European people.”
On Sunday, President Biden called the massacre “senseless and horrific.”
“Jill and I will travel to Buffalo on Tuesday to grieve with the community that lost ten lives in a senseless and horrific mass shooting,” Biden tweeted.
During today’s visit, President Biden took time to relay a strong message and condemn the attack.
“In America, evil will not win. Hate will not prevail. White supremacy will not have the last word,” he tweeted. Biden added, “White supremacy is a poison running through our body politic. We need to say as clearly and forcefully as we can that the ideology of white supremacy has no place in America. Failure to do so will be complicity. Silence will be complicity. We cannot remain silent.”
Saturday’s racially motivated attack killed 10 and wounded 13.
Suspected gunman Gendron was charged with first-degree murder and pleaded not guilty. Additional charges are expected to be filed in the coming days.
In America, evil will not win.
Hate will not prevail.
White supremacy will not have the last word.
— President Biden (@POTUS) May 17, 2022
White supremacy is a poison running through our body politic.
We need to say as clearly and forcefully as we can that the ideology of white supremacy has no place in America.
Failure to do so will be complicity. Silence will be complicity. We cannot remain silent.
— President Biden (@POTUS) May 17, 2022