By Jenna Zucker

BUFFALO, N.Y. – New York officials are looking into how a black 18-year-old man, whom the governor stated had been on their radar from high school, managed to kill 10 people at a Black neighborhood grocery shop.

Payton Gendron was the suspect. He surrendered on Saturday to police at the Buffalo store. This is what authorities call an act of “racially motivated violence extremism.” According to reports, he published a racist manifesto online.

This Buffalo attack follows other mass murders motivated by racial bias in the recent past, such as the Pittsburgh synagogue attack in October 2018 that killed 11 people and then, in March 2019, eight others were murdered in an attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue.

According to authorities, Gendron, who was armed in an assault-style rifle, drove from his Buffalo home for the attack. He broadcast it live on Twitch (a social media platform owned by Amazon.com)

Officials said that eleven of the thirteen people who were killed by gunfire were Black. Other victims included two whites. It was unclear how the dead were divided racially.

On Saturday, Gendron circulated a 180-page manifesto online. It outlined the “Great Replacement Theory”, a conspiracy theory that states whites are being replaced in America by minorities.

CNN’s Kathy Hochul, New York Governor, stated that the manifesto “tells all to us” and was what made it so jaw-dropping.

Gendron also circulated an online document that seemed to be his. It contained a list of tasks to complete for the attack. This included cleaning out the gun, and testing the stream.

An Erie County spokesperson declined to comment.

Hochul stated to ABC News that Gendron was under surveillance “in relation to something he wrote high school,” but did not go into detail.

According to the governor, an investigation would be conducted into Gendron’s murder to determine how he managed to escape it while he was well-known to authorities as a threat.

She said, “I would like to find out what other people know and how they did it.”

Hochul said to reporters that she was stunned by how the suspect live-streamed his attack on social networking, which Hochul claimed hosted a “feeding frenzy,” of violent extremist ideology.

Hochul stated that it was shocking that such content could be shared on social media. Hochul stated that these outlets should be more attentive in monitoring social media content.

Twitch released a statement saying that the stream was removed less than two minutes after its start and it was working to remove any other accounts from reposting the video. Hochul stated that it ought to have been removed “within one second”.

On social media, screenshots were shared of the broadcast. Some showed the shooter standing in front of a grocery store body and holding a firearm.

MOMENTUM COMMUNITY MOURNING

Gendron is from Conklin in New York near Pennsylvania’s border. He was arrested hours later on charges of first-degree murder. These carry the maximum sentence of life imprisonment without parole. New York does not have capital punishment.

Flynn stated that Gendron was also placed in custody by the judge without bail, and ordered to go through a “forensic exam.” Gendron was due to appear in court again on May 19.

Gendron entered an agreement to not plead guilty.

Hochul claimed that the gun used to kill the victims was legally purchased, but it had been modified illegally with a high capacity magazine.

A number of community members held a vigil outside Tops’ grocery store on Sunday for the victims.

Tyrell Ford of Voice Buffalo was one of several vigil organizers. The social justice non-profit said the shooting rattled “city of good neighbours.”

“I’m still trying to process it. There’s so much trauma in the Black community and this is the time to start the process of grieving,” Ford said.

Sharon Doyle, 55, was a security guard at Erie County Public Library. She led the chant “Black Lives Matter, My Life Matters” during the vigil.

“We all get in that Tops. Doyle stated that he was afraid to go to Walmart (NYSE 🙂 last night. “I have to go to work tomorrow and I’m terrified.”

Stephen Belongia is the FBI’s special agent for the Buffalo field office. He stated that the incident would be investigated as both a hate crime as well as as an act “racially motivated violence extremism” as per federal law.

The shooting was condemned by President Biden in an address issued Saturday night.

According to police, the suspect was very close to taking life. Officers confronted the suspect at the store and found him holding a gun to the neck. They talked the teenager into giving up the weapon and turning in his surrender.