Teenager remains silent as he appears in court over US supermarket shooting

THE white man accused of killing 10 black people at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, has appeared in court, standing silently during brief proceedings attended by some relatives of the victims after a grand jury indicted him.

Payton Gendron, 18, wore an orange jail uniform, a mask and handcuffs.

As he was led out, someone shouted “Payton, you’re a coward!” from the courtroom gallery. He is being held in jail without bail.

The first-degree murder indictment covers all 10 deaths.

Thirteen people in all were shot on Saturday at the Tops Friendly Market in a predominantly black neighbourhood of Buffalo.

The victims’ relatives who had attended the hearing left without immediately speaking to reporters.

Gendron, 18, livestreamed the attack from a helmet camera before surrendering to police outside the store. Shortly before the attack, he posted hundreds of pages of writings to online discussion groups where he detailed his plans for the assault and his racist motivation.

Investigators have been examining the documents, which included a private diary he kept on the chat platform Discord.

At his initial court appearance last week, Gendron’s courtappointed lawyer entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf. He is due back in court on June 9.

The massacre at the supermarket was unsettling even in a nation that has become almost numb to mass shootings. All but two of the 13 people shot during the attack were black.

Gendron’s online writings said he planned the assault after becoming infatuated with white supremacist ideology he encountered online.

The diary said Gendron planned his attack in secret, with no outside help, but Discord confirmed on Wednesday that an invitation to access his private writings was sent to a small group of people about 30 minutes before the assault began. Some of them accepted the invitation.

It was unclear how many read what he had written or logged on to view the assault live. It also was not clear whether anyone tried to alert law enforcement.

Buffalo police commissioner Joseph Gramaglia has said investigators were working to obtain and review Gendron’s posts.