Buffalo supermarket gunman indicted on terror, hate charge

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — The white man accused of killing 10 Black individuals in a racist assault on a Buffalo supermarket was indicted by a grand jury Wednesday on a state domestic terrorism and hate crime charge that would carry a mandatory sentence of life in jail.

Payton Gendron is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday on the new, 25-count indictment, which builds on a previous murder cost unexpectedly prepared within the hours after the May 14 shooting.

The 18-year-old has now additionally been charged with the tried murders of three individuals who were shot throughout the attack, but survived, and with using a weapon whereas committing a felony.

He has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors had advised a choose May 20 the grand jury had voted to indict Gendron but did not disclose charges, saying proceedings have been ongoing.

Gendron’s lawyer, Brian Parker, mentioned he had not seen the indictment and couldn't remark, including that prosecution and protection attorneys have been barred by a judge from discussing the case publicly.

The horrific nature of the crime and variety of victims was prone to already assure a life sentence if Gendron is convicted. New York has no loss of life penalty. But adding a state terrorism cost may carry further emotional resonance and help authorities ship a message about violent extremism.

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

“This man was motivated by hate towards individuals he never met for no motive apart from the color of their pores and skin,” said Buffalo lawyer John Elmore, who represents the households of victims Katherine “Kat” Massey, 72, and Andre Mackniel, 53. Elmore mentioned he hoped for a conviction on every depend.

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed the home terrorism hate crime legislation in August 2019, in the wake of a mass taking pictures focusing on 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 residence in Munsey, New York, was signed into law on April 3, 2020, and took impact Nov. 1, 2020.

The legislation expanded on a earlier domestic terrorism statute handed after the 9/11 terrorist assault that was largely envisioned as a approach to go after worldwide extremism.

Prosecutors mentioned Gendron drove about three hours to Buffalo from his home in Conklin, New York, desiring to kill as many Black folks as attainable. 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 just lately purchased, opened fire on Saturday afternoon shoppers at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo.

Murder costs had been filed for every of the victims, who ranged in age from 32 to 86 and included eight customers, the shop security guard and a church deacon who drove consumers to and from the shop with their groceries.

The capturing, followed 10 days later by a mass taking pictures that killed 19 kids 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 stated.

“To have her life taken away by a white supremacist extremist by the hands of a weapon of mass destruction is extremely upsetting to me,” he stated. He's part of a crew of attorneys exploring potential legal motion towards the producers of the weapon and body armor utilized by the gunman, in addition to social media platforms.

The assault was livestreamed from a helmet-mounted digital camera.

“Somehow we’re going to find justice for the Massey family, for the Mackniel household and all these others that had been affected by this tragedy,” Elmore mentioned.

Federal authorities also are investigating the opportunity of hate crime expenses in opposition to Gendron, who apparently detailed his plans and his racist motivation in a whole lot of pages of writings he posted on-line shortly earlier than the capturing.

Amanda Drury, who misplaced her 32-year-old sister, Roberta Drury, stated she is leaving it to the authorized system to say what fees are acceptable in the case.

“I’m going to proceed with my belief within the justice system,” she said.

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