By Tyler Clifford

BUFFALO, N.Y., (Reuters) – The teenage suspect in the massacre of 10 people at a Buffalo supermarket was expected back in court Thursday. This case has sparked a nationwide conversation about hate, guns and the Internet.

Payton Gendron (18-year-old white) was first arraigned for a single charge of first-degree killing hours after police stated that he had opened fire at Tops Friendly Markets with a semiautomatic assault rifle.

The judge ordered him to be held in lieu of bond after he pleaded not guilty.

13 people, mostly Black, were killed in the attack. Police confronted the gunman inside the grocery store and he surrendered.

FBI stated immediately that it was investigating rampage as hate crime and act of “racially motivated violence extremism”. Authorities have also pointed to the existence of a manifesto written by white supremacists, which he may have posted online prior to the shooting.

Gendron was to appear in the second Erie County court proceeding, also known as a “felony hearing”, on Thursday morning. He is from Conklin, a small New York city.

His state-level charges could be added. New York State’s first degree murder carries the maximum punishment of life without parole.

On Tuesday, President Joe Biden visited Buffalo and condemned white nationists as well as media outlets online, social media platforms and the political rhetoric that he accused of spreading conspiratorial theories.

Biden stated, “What happened is straightforward and simple – terrorist, terrorism or domestic terrorism.”

Letitia James of New York opened Wednesday an investigation into multiple social media platforms where she claimed the Buffalo attacker planned, promoted and broadcast her attack.

Governor Kathy Hochul also announced other measures to curb domestic terrorist activity, such as tightening New York’s gun laws and giving the authority for state police officers to arm individuals who are deemed to be a public danger under New York’s red flag law.

She claimed that social media platforms allow violent extremism flourish and suggested the Buffalo shooting was a reflection of “the mainstreaming hate speech…and the easy access military-style weapons.”

Gendron was accused of webcasting video of an attack that he was performing in real-time onto Twitch (a video streaming platform owned by Amazon.com NASDAQ:).

Twitch claimed that it removed the video in less than two minutes. However, images from Twitch’s broadcast were shared on social media throughout the day. The livestream footage could be still found online as recent as Wednesday morning.

According to authorities, the suspect is also believed to have written a long racist screed on the internet outlining his “great replacement theory”, which states that white Americans are being replaced by minorities in other nations. He also kept a checklist and journal detailing the preparations for attacks.

Buffalo police stated that Gendron was first brought to their attention by local police nearly one year prior to the Buffalo shooting. He had made threats at his high school and police arrested him. Gendron was then released following a mental exam.

Hochul stated that the murder weapon came from legal purchase, however it was modified using a high-capacity magazine. This is against New York law.