Accused Buffalo mass shooter Payton Gendron, a white man, could receive the death penalty as he is currently facing multiple federal hate crime charges.
He is charged with 10 counts of hate crimes resulting in death, three counts of hate crime involving bodily injury, 10 counts of use of a firearm to commit murder during and in relation to a violent crime and three counts of use and discharge of a firearm during a violent crime, according to a criminal complaint.
As previously reported by REVOLT, on May 14, the suspect entered a Tops Friendly Market grocery store in New York and opened fire during a planned racially-motivated attack that he live-streamed.
All of those who were killed were Black.
“Gendron’s motive for the mass shooting was to prevent Black people from replacing white people and eliminating the white race and to inspire others to commit similar attacks,” according to a complaint filed by prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York.
Today (June 15), Attorney General Merrick Garland met with relatives of the victims at the site of the massacre and said, “No one in this country should have to live in fear that they will go to work or shop at a grocery store and will be attacked by someone who hates them because of the color of their skin.”
Garland was asked if he plans to seek the death penalty and told reporters, “The Justice Department has a series of procedures it follows … The families and the survivors would be consulted.”
The attorney general said, “In the days and weeks since the attack, we have all witnessed the strength of this community’s bonds, its resilience and its love,” as he was joined by other officials today.
He added, “I am humbled to have just felt that firsthand in my discussions with the families. Hate-fueled acts of violence terrorize not only the individuals who are attacked but entire communities. Hate brings immediate devastation and it inflicts lasting fear.”