Police probe teen killer of 12’s background

AN INVESTIGATION into the weekend shooting of more than a dozen people at a western New York supermarket turned yesterday to whether authorities missed telltale signs and red flags left by the teenage gunman prior to his racist killing spree.

Authorities said Payton Gendron, 18, carried out an act of “racially motivated violent extremism” when he opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle on Saturday at the Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo, where 11 of the 13 wounded were black.

“The evidence that we have uncovered so far makes no mistake this is an absolute racist hate crime that will be prosecuted as a hate crime,” Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia told reporters on Sunday.

Besides seeking a clearer understanding of the motives for Gendron’s attack, authorities will focus on what could have been done to stop him.

This,as details of the teenager’s troubling behaviour in high school and his online presence began to emerge.