New York shooter’s bizarre actions in lead up to killing spree: ’He wanted to do a shooting’

A teen accused of carrying out a “racially motivated” massacre in a New York supermarket had exhibited alarming behaviours in the lead up to the shooting.

Payton Gendron, the suspect on the Buffalo supermarket killing. Picture: BigDawg/ via Reuters

A teenage white supremacist accused of murdering 10 people in a “racially motivated” massacre at a New York supermarket previously threatened to shoot a classmate at his high school graduation and wore a Hazmat suit to school for one week.

Susquehanna Valley High School officials last year contacted New York State Police to report that Payton Gendron, 18, of Conklin, a small town about 270km north west of New York City, threatened to shoot fellow students in June 2021.

“A school official reported that this very troubled young man had made statements indicating that he wanted to do a shooting, either at a graduation ceremony, or sometime after,” a government source told local newspaper Buffalo News.

After police investigated the account, Gendron was referred for mental health evaluation and counselling.

Almost one year later, he ended up shooting 13 people in a deadly attack that he live-streamed on camera at a Top Market supermarket in Buffalo, New York, on Saturday, according to police.

Gendron pleaded not guilty to a first-degree murder charge and was remanded without bail on Sunday.

“I understand my charges,” he told the judge.

Police have identified 18-year-old Payton Gendron of Conklin, NY, as the gunman. Picture: BigDawg/ via Reuters.

He will next appear in court on Thursday. If found guilty, he faces a life sentence in prison without the possibility of parole.

Two victims have been identified. The retired cop turned store security guard Aaron Salter and shopper Ruth Whitfield, an 86 year-old grandmother.

Authorities said Gendron recently purchased the weapons he used in the shooting. The semiautomatic gun that Gendron used had a racial epithet spelled out in white paint on the barrel, and also the number 14, a government official said.

The number reportedly refers to a 14-word statement attributed to a white supremacist terror organisation.

In addition to the semiautomatic weapon, Gendron also had a hunting rifle and a shotgun, which were recently purchased legally, according to police.

Classmates said that he often acted strangely at times and espoused extremist views on politics. One former student claimed that Gendron wore a hazmat suit to school for a week to protect himself from Covid last year, the Daily Mail reports.

“It was the most extra thing that I ever saw him do,” the source, who asked not to be named, said.

The gunman, who was wearing body armour and a helmet, was arrested after the massacre, Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia told a news conference.

Mr Gramaglia put the toll at 10 dead and three wounded. Eleven of the victims were African-Americans.

The gunman shot four people in the parking lot of the Tops supermarket, three of them fatally, then went inside and continued firing, Mr Gramaglia said.

Among those killed inside the store was a retired police officer working as an armed security guard.

The guard “engaged the suspect, fired multiple shots,” but the gunman shot him, Mr Gramaglia said.

He added that when police arrived, the shooter put the gun to his neck, but was talked down and surrendered.

At least 10 people were killed in the mass shooting. Picture: John Normile/Getty Images/AFP.

Buffalo Police on scene at a Tops Friendly Market on May 14, 2022 in Buffalo, New York. Picture: Normile/Getty Images/AFP.

Stephen Belongia, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Buffalo field office, told the news conference that the shooting is being investigated as a hate crime.

“We are investigating this incident as both a hate crime and a case of racially motivated violent extremism,” Mr Belongia said.

Erie County Sheriff John Garcia described the attack as “pure evil.” “It was straight up racially motivated hate crime from somebody outside of our community,” he said.

When asked what information led authorities to term the attack a hate crime, Erie County District lawyer John Flynn said they had evidence indicating “racial animosity,” but declined to elaborate.

Manifesto

US media outlets have reported officials are investigating a detailed “manifesto” posted online before the shooting, in which the suspect outlines his plans and racial conspiracy thiery backed motivations for the attack.

Quoting from the manifesto,The New York Timesreported the suspect had been “inspired” by white supremacist acts of violence, including the massacre of 51 Muslims in Christchurch, New Zealand in March 2019.

District lawyer Flynn said in the press conference that the shooter used an “assault weapon” – a term that can apply to types of rifles and shotguns in New York – but did not specify which kind.

Asked during the earlier press conference if the shooter could face the death penalty at the federal level, the US lawyer for the Western District of New York, Trini Ross, said: “All options are on the table as we go forward with the investigation.”

Buffalo Police on scene at a Tops Friendly Market on May 14, 2022 in Buffalo, New York. Picture: John Normile/Getty Images/AFP.

‘Day of great pain’

Byron Brown, the mayor of Buffalo – which is located in western New York State, along the US border with Canada – said the shooter “travelled hours from outside this community to perpetrate this crime.”

“This is a day of great pain for our community,” Mr Brown said.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said US President Joe Biden had been briefed on the “horrific shooting.” In a statement, Mr Biden thanked police and first responders and denounced the attack.

“Any act of domestic terrorism, including an act perpetrated in the name of a repugnant white nationalist ideology, is antithetical to everything we stand for in America,” he said.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the senior US senator from New York, said in a tweet: “We are standing with the people of Buffalo.”

The Governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, described the killings as a “horrific white supremacist shooting” in a tweet that also praised the grocery store security guard as “a true hero.”

A spokesman for streaming service Twitch confirmed to AFP that the shooter used the service to broadcast the attack.

“We have investigated and confirmed that we removed the stream less than two minutes after the violence started,” the spokesman said, adding: “We are taking all appropriate action, including monitoring for any accounts rebroadcasting this content.”

Wave of gun violence

The Buffalo shooting follows other recent instances of racially motivated mass killings in the United States.

In 2019, a white gunman travelled hours across the state of Texas and killed 23 people at a Walmart store in El Paso, where the vast majority of the population is Hispanic.

Four years earlier, in Charleston, South Carolina, a white man opened fire in an African American church, killing nine.

In both instances, the men posted hate-filled manifestos online before their shooting rampages.

Despite recurring mass-casualty shootings and a nationwide wave of gun violence, multiple initiatives to reform gun regulations have failed in the US Congress, leaving states and local councils to enact their own restrictions.

The United States suffered 19,350 firearm homicides in 2020, up nearly 35 per cent compared to 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in its latest data.