Hate crimes among Buffalo suspect’s charges
A month after a massacre at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, left 10 Black residents dead, federal prosecutors charged the accused gunman with 26 counts of hate crimes and weapons violations Wednesday.
Some of the charges could carry the death penalty, though there is currently a moratorium on federal executions.
The criminal complaint — which contained new details about the suspect’s racist hatred and his commitment to planning an attack that would kill as many Black people as possible — came as Attorney General Merrick Garland traveled to Buffalo on Wednesday to visit the site of the massacre.
In a news conference Wednesday, Garland did not rule out seeking the death penalty.
“The Justice Department has a series of procedures it follows,” he said, adding: “The families and the survivors would be consulted.”
The suspect, Payton Gendron, 18, is an avowed white supremacist who wore camouflage and body armor and carried a semi-automatic rifle while livestreaming the attack. In the days before, he also posted a lengthy rant outlining his belief in so-called replacement theory, a white supremacist ideology that posits a scheme to “replace” white people with people of color.
All told, 13 people were shot at Tops Friendly Market May 14; three survived.
After visiting with victims’ families, Garland said in the news conference that “hate brings immediate devastation, and it inflicts lasting fear.”
Garland suggested the suspect believed in “the vile theory that only people like him belong in this country,” and noted that the suspect apologized to a white employee he had shot, before continuing to shoot others.