Here's Everything You Need To Know About the Mass Shooting in Buffalo
At a Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo, New York on Saturday, a white gunman led a racially-motivated mass shooting, killing 10 victims.
Residents of Buffalo, New York are in mourning after 10 people were killed and three were injured when a white gunman held a mass shooting at a Tops Friendly Market on Jefferson Avenue. According to ABC News, authorities have confirmed that the attack was a "racially-motivated hate crime" caused by 18-year-old Payton Gendron, who live-streamed the attack through head-mounted camera gear on his helmet on Twitch. The platform says that it removed the livestream less than two minutes after it began. With Gendron now in custody, here's everything you need to know about the shooting.
Gendron published an 180-page manifesto prior to the attack
Two days before the shooting, Gendron published an 180-page manifesto on Google Docs detailing his plans of the attack. In the manifesto, Gendron cited the conspiracy theory "Great Replacement Theory" for the alleged decline of the white population in America, as well as described himself as a white supremacist, fascist, and anti-Semite. In the live-streamed video of the shooting, Gendron is seen holding a rifle marked with a racial epithet while shooting employees and customers.
Gendron said that at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, he was "radicalized" through his "research" of white supremacy on the internet, and had initially planned the attack in January this year. Gendron also explained why he targeted Tops Friendly Market, saying that “it has the highest black population percentage” closest to his home in Broome County. He also detailed his guns, body armor, and strategy in the manifesto.
Gendron drove three hours from his hometown to Buffalo, where the shooting began around 2:30 PM. He previously worked behind the deli counter at Conklin Reliable Market, where fellow employee Harrison Gage told Yahoo! News that he was “upset, but not surprised” about the shooting, mentioning that Gendron rarely interacted with Conklin customers.
Gendron threatened a school shooting at his former high school
Although Gendron graduated from Susquehanna Valley High School in 2021 at 17, he was taken to a local hospital “for a mental evaluation” last June after making a threat of violence at his school.
“A school official reported that this very troubled young man had made statements indicating that he wanted to do a shooting, either at a graduation ceremony, or sometime after,” a government official told The Buffalo News.
Gendron was released after one-and-a-half days of being evaluated, later becoming a student at SUNY Broome Community College, where he is no longer enrolled.
Susquehanna Valley Central School District Superintendent Richard Doig has made a statement in light of the Tops Friendly Market shooting.
“The staff and families of the Susquehanna Valley Central School District are incredibly saddened by the recent news of the mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo,” he said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims at this difficult time.”
The ages of shooting victims ranged from 20 to 86
Gendron made it a mission to kill every Black person in sight upon visiting Tops Friendly Market, ultimately killing ten people and injuring three others. The store's 55-year-old security guard AaronSalter, a retired Buffalo Police officer, was among those killed, although he attempted to shoot Gendron upon entering the store.
Those also killed in the shooting were Ruth Whitfield (86), Pearly Young (77), Katherine Massey (72), Deacon Heyward Patterson (67), Celestine Chaney (65), Roberta A. Drury (32), Margus D. Morrison (52), Andre Mackneil (53), and Geraldine Talley (62). Three were injured in the shooting, but two have been released from the hospital, including 20-year-old Zaire Goodman, a son of a staffer in State Senator Tim Kennedy's office.
Kennedy went to Twitter to release a statement following the shooting.
Gendron was apprehended upon leaving the market and has plead not guilty
On Saturday afternoon, Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said that Gendron had been seen inside Tops Friendly Market and the surrounding neighborhood near Jefferson Avenue, where he plotted to kill more Black residents. However, Gendron did not get that far as police officers arrived on the scene at 2:31 and apprehended him.
"The officers used every de-escalation tactic they could to talk him down," Gramaglia said. "He didn’t point the gun toward officers, and the officers moved in very quickly to take him into custody."
Police said that Gendron fired 50 rounds from his AR-15 rifle, as well as found an additional rifle and shotgun in his parents vehicle that he drove to the market. On a Saturday evening arraignment, Gendron wore a white paper gown and mask when his adjoining lawyer plead not guilty to first-degree murder charges.
Tops Friendly Market has announced a free shuttle service to a second location in Buffalo
On Sunday, Tops Friendly Market announced that their Jefferson Avenue location would remain closed while investigators hold evidence procedures, but that patrons can take a free shuttle service to their Elmwood Avenue location four miles away, running from 10 AM to 7 PM daily.
"We are steadfast in our commitment to serving every corner of our community as we have for the past 60 years," the company said in a statement. "Knowing the importance of this location and serving families on the east side of the city, we have taken immediate steps to ensure our neighbors are able to meet their grocery and pharmacy needs by providing free bus shuttle service starting today."