Suspect pleads guilty to mass shooting in Buffalo
District attorney to seek the maximum sentence
The 19-year-old white man accused of fatally shooting 10 Black people at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, pleaded guilty Monday to more than a dozen related state charges.
Payton Gendron pleaded guilty to 10 counts of first-degree murder, and charges of domestic terrorism motivated by hate, attempted murder as a hate crime and criminal weapon possession.
Gendron carried out the racist massacre with a semi-automatic rifle in a matter of minutes at a Tops Friendly Market on May 14. He also wounded three others in the attack.
Gendron, who was handcuffed and wore an orange jumpsuit Monday, showed little emotion through the 45minute proceeding, only occasionally licking and clenching his lips, the Associated Press reported. He answered “yes” and “guilty” as the judge referred to each victim by name and asked whether Gendron killed each victim because of their race.
“While we may never fully heal from the horrific crime and the loss of life that occurred on May 14th, I hope that the families of the victims and the survivors feel that justice has been served by this defendant pleading guilty today,” Erie County District Attorney John Flynn said in a statement. “Our office will request that the Court impose the maximum sentence.”
Gendron faces a penalty of life without parole. He also is facing federal hate crime charges that could carry the death penalty. The Justice Department has not said if it will seek capital punishment.
Gendron was 18 at the time of the homicides. He was armed with a semiautomatic AR-15 and livestreamed the terrifying assault, a video that has continued to survive in corners of the web despite continued efforts to purge it, federal and state prosecutors say.
Gendron allegedly targeted the predominantly Black neighborhood, killing Black people who were regulars at the supermarket. Among those slain were a retired Buffalo policeman and a community activist known as a pillar of the community.
Many of the victims’ relatives watched the hearing Monday, the Associated Press reported. Several told reporters the plea doesn’t address the bigger problem of racism in America.
“His voice made me feel sick, but it showed me I was right,” said Zeneta Everhart, whose 20-year-old son was shot in the neck but survived. “This country has a problem. This country is inherently violent. It is racist. And his voice showed that to me.”
After the hearing, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown and Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia called for a ban on assault weapons. Some relatives repeated calls for Congress and the FBI to address white supremacy and gun violence.
“We are literally begging for those in power to do something about it,” said Garnell Whitfield, whose 86-year-old mother, Ruth Whitfield, was killed.
Gendron’s lawyer, Brian Parker, called the plea a “critical step” that “represents a condemnation of the racist ideology that fueled his horrific actions on May 14.”