Buffalo grocery store gunman indicted on terror, hate charge

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — The white man accused of killing 10 Black folks in a racist attack 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 compulsory sentence of life in jail.

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

The 18-year-old has now additionally been charged with the attempted murders of three people who have been shot during the attack, however survived, and with utilizing a weapon while committing a felony.

He has pleaded not responsible. Prosecutors had advised a choose Could 20 the grand jury had voted to indict Gendron however did not disclose costs, saying proceedings have been ongoing.

Gendron’s attorney, Brian Parker, said he had not seen the indictment and could not comment, including that prosecution and defense attorneys have been barred by a decide from discussing the case publicly.

The horrific nature of the crime and variety of victims was more likely to already assure a life sentence if Gendron is convicted. New York has no demise penalty. But adding a state terrorism charge may carry extra emotional resonance and assist authorities ship a message about violent extremism.

The domestic terrorism cost — Domestic Acts of Terrorism Motivated by Hate within the First Degree — accuses Gendron of killing “because of the perceived race and/or shade” of his victims.

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

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

The regulation expanded on a previous domestic terrorism statute handed after the 9/11 terrorist attack that was largely envisioned as a way to go after international extremism.

Prosecutors stated Gendron drove about three hours to Buffalo from his house in Conklin, New York, intending to kill as many Black folks as potential. Shortly earlier than the attack he posted paperwork 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 lately bought, opened hearth on Saturday afternoon customers at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo.

Murder prices have been filed for each of the victims, who ranged in age from 32 to 86 and included eight clients, the shop safety guard and a church deacon who drove consumers to and from the shop with their groceries.

The taking pictures, followed 10 days later by a mass taking pictures that killed 19 children and two academics inside a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school, has renewed a nationwide debate about gun management.

Mackniel was in the store to buy a birthday cake for his 3-year-old. Massey was a community activist who had championed gun management and fought against racism, Elmore said.

“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 stated. He's part of a staff of attorneys exploring potential authorized action against the manufacturers of the weapon and physique armor used by the gunman, as well as social media platforms.

The attack was livestreamed from a helmet-mounted digicam.

“One way or the other we’re going to find justice for the Massey household, for the Mackniel family and all those others that were affected by this tragedy,” Elmore stated.

Federal authorities also are investigating the potential for hate crime charges towards Gendron, who apparently detailed his plans and his racist motivation in tons of of pages of writings he posted on-line shortly earlier than the shooting.

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

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

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