Buffalo supermarket gunman indicted on terror, hate charge

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — The white man accused of killing 10 Black individuals in a racist assault on a Buffalo grocery store was indicted by a grand jury Wednesday on a state home terrorism and hate crime charge that may carry a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

Payton Gendron is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday on the new, 25-count indictment, which builds on a earlier homicide charge swiftly prepared within the hours after the Could 14 capturing.

The 18-year-old has now also been charged with the attempted murders of three individuals who were shot through the assault, but survived, and with utilizing a weapon while committing a felony.

He has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors had told a judge Could 20 the grand jury had voted to indict Gendron but did not disclose expenses, saying proceedings have been ongoing.

Gendron’s lawyer, Brian Parker, mentioned he had not seen the indictment and couldn't comment, including that prosecution and protection attorneys have been barred by a decide from discussing the case publicly.

The horrific nature of the crime and number of victims was likely to already assure a life sentence if Gendron is convicted. New York has no death penalty. But adding a state terrorism cost may carry further emotional resonance and help authorities ship a message about violent extremism.

The home terrorism cost — Home Acts of Terrorism Motivated by Hate in the First Diploma — accuses Gendron of killing “because of the perceived race and/or color” of his victims.

“This man was motivated by hate against folks he by no means met for no cause other than the color of their skin,” said Buffalo lawyer John Elmore, who represents the families of victims Katherine “Kat” Massey, 72, and Andre Mackniel, 53. Elmore stated he hoped for a conviction on each depend.

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed the home terrorism hate crime law in August 2019, in the wake of a mass taking pictures concentrating on Mexicans at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas. The measure, dubbed the “Josef Neumann Hate Crimes Home Terrorism Act” after an assault at a rabbi’s residence in Munsey, New York, was signed into legislation on April 3, 2020, and took effect Nov. 1, 2020.

The legislation expanded on a previous home terrorism statute passed after the 9/11 terrorist assault that was largely envisioned as a technique to go after worldwide extremism.

Prosecutors said Gendron drove about three hours to Buffalo from his home in Conklin, New York, aspiring to kill as many Black individuals as doable. Shortly earlier than the assault he posted documents that outlined his white supremacist views and revealed he had been planning the attack for months.

The gunman, carrying an AR-15-style rifle he had just lately bought, opened hearth on Saturday afternoon shoppers at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo.

Murder costs have been filed for every of the victims, who ranged in age from 32 to 86 and included eight prospects, the store safety guard and a church deacon who drove customers to and from the store with their groceries.

The capturing, adopted 10 days later by a mass shooting that killed 19 kids and two lecturers inside a Uvalde, Texas, elementary college, has renewed a national debate about gun control.

Mackniel was within the store to buy a birthday cake for his 3-year-old. Massey was a group activist who had championed gun control and fought towards racism, Elmore stated.

“To have her life taken away by a white supremacist extremist by the hands of a weapon of mass destruction is extraordinarily upsetting to me,” he said. He's a part of a team of attorneys exploring potential legal motion against the manufacturers of the weapon and physique armor used by the gunman, in addition to social media platforms.

The attack was livestreamed from a helmet-mounted digital camera.

“By some means we’re going to search out justice for the Massey household, for the Mackniel family and all these others that were affected by this tragedy,” Elmore mentioned.

Federal authorities also are investigating the possibility of hate crime prices towards Gendron, who apparently detailed his plans and his racist motivation in a whole bunch of pages of writings he posted online shortly earlier than the taking pictures.

Amanda Drury, who lost her 32-year-old sister, Roberta Drury, mentioned she is leaving it to the authorized system to say what fees are applicable within the case.

“I’m going to continue with my belief within the justice system,” she stated.

___

Related Press writers Michael Sisak and Jennifer Peltz contributed from New York.