Buffalo suspect shared his plans just before attack
Shortly before he opened fire, the white gunman accused of killing 10 Black people at a Buffalo, N.Y., supermarket allowed a small group of people to see his detailed plans for the attack, which he’d been chronicling for months in a private online diary.
Discord, the chat platform where 18-year-old Payton Gendron kept the diary, confirmed Wednesday that an invitation to access his private writings was sent to the group about a halfhour before Saturday’s attack at Tops Friendly Market, which he livestreamed on another online service. Some of them accepted.
Gendron’s diary and its racist, antisemitic entries dated to last November included step-bystep descriptions of his assault plans, a detailed account of a reconnaissance trip he made to Buffalo in March, and maps of the store that he drew by hand.
“What we know at this time is that a private, invite-only server was created by the suspect to serve as a personal diary chat log,” a Discord spokesperson said in a statement. “Approximately 30 minutes prior to the attack, however, a small group of people were invited to and joined the server. Before that, our records indicate no other people saw the diary chat log in this private server.”
It wasn’t clear if any of the people who accessed Gendron’s diary or saw his livestream did anything to alert the authorities or attempt to stop the attack. Discord said that it removed Gendron’s diary as soon as it became aware of it, in accordance with the company’s policies against violent extremism.
On Wednesday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul authorized state Attorney General Letitia James to investigate social media platforms used by Gendron to determine if they have “civil or criminal liability for their role in promoting, facilitating, or providing a platform to plan and promote violence.”
Discord said it planned to cooperate with James’ probe and that it’s helping with the investigation into the shooting.
“Our deepest sympathies are with the victims and their families,” the company said. “Hate has no place on Discord and we are committed to combating violence and extremism.”