By Christina MaxourisCNN
Authorities say the suspect who fatally shot 10 people and injured three others at a Buffalo supermarket on Saturday traveled from another New York county hours away.
“The shooter traveled hours from outside this community to commit this crime against the people of Buffalo, on a day when people were enjoying the sun, enjoying family, enjoying friends,” said Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown, at a press conference on Saturday night. “People in a supermarket, shopping and bullets raining down on them. People’s lives are turned off in an instant for no reason.”
The suspect, Payton Gendron, an 18-year-old white male, was charged with first-degree murder, Buffalo City Court Chief Judge Craig Hannah told CNN, adding that the district attorney’s office plans to charge the suspect. suspect and file additional charges. Gendron has pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The suspect first opened fire in the store’s parking lot and then went inside, where he continued to fire before turning himself in to police, Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said.
Thirteen people were shot, three of whom suffered non-life-threatening injuries, Gramaglia said. Of the 13 victims, 11 were African-American and two were white, Gramaglia said.
The FBI is investigating the shooting as a hate crime and a case of racially motivated violent extremism, said Stephen Belongia, FBI special agent in charge of the Buffalo field office.
Here’s what we know about the shooting and the investigation.
Suspect live streamed violence
At approximately 2:30 pm Saturday, the suspect drove to the Tops Friendly Markets supermarket on Jefferson Avenue, got out of his vehicle and shot four people in the parking lot, Gramaglia said. Three of those people died and another is expected to survive, Gramaglia said.
“He was very heavily armed,” the commissioner said. “He had tactical gear, he had a tactical helmet on, he had a camera that was broadcasting live what he was doing.”
The suspect used an assault weapon, Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn said.
Live streaming platform Twitch confirmed on Saturday that the suspect used their platform to broadcast a live stream during the attack.
The company said it was “devastated” to learn of the shooting, adding that the user “has been indefinitely suspended from our service and we are taking all appropriate steps, including monitoring any accounts re-streaming this content.”
After shooting four people in the parking lot, the suspect entered the store and began shooting at customers. A security guard inside the store who was a retired Buffalo police officer shot the suspect. But because the suspect was wearing heavy armor, the bullets had no effect, Gramaglia said.
The suspect shot and killed the security guard and kept moving through the store, the commissioner said. When police arrived, the suspect put the gun to his neck, but then dropped the gun and removed some of his gear, he added.
He surrendered and was transported to Buffalo Police Headquarters.
Investigators are investigating a manifest.
Investigators were reviewing an alleged manifesto Saturday that was posted online in connection with the Buffalo mass shooting investigation, two federal law enforcement officials told CNN.
Erie County Sheriff John C. Garcia said the shooting was a “racially motivated hate crime by someone outside of our community.”
“This was pure evil,” the sheriff said.
The supermarket is located near the Masten Park and Kingsley areas, which are predominantly black neighborhoods.
“Now you have a white assailant in a (majority) black community. Why did you choose this market? said CNN national security analyst Juliette Kayyem.
Asked during Saturday’s news conference why authorities are calling the mass shooting a hate crime, Flynn, the district attorney, said investigators have “some evidence” that “indicates some racial animosity.”
“I’m not going to… elaborate on what exactly they are at this point, but we do have evidence in custody right now that shows there is some racial component,” Flynn said.
What we know about the victims
Of the 13 people shot, 11 are African-American and two are white, said Gramaglia, the police commissioner.
Four of the people shot were store employees, he said. One, the security guard, died while the other three suffered “non-fatal injuries,” she said.
Authorities have yet to share any further information, including the ages of the victims.
The CNN Wire
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia company. All rights reserved.
CNN’s Artemis Moshtaghian, Shimon Prokupecz and Brian Stelter contributed to this report.
Reference-kion546.com