Buffalo grocery store gunman indicted on terror, hate charge

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

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

The 18-year-old has now also been charged with the attempted murders of three individuals who have been shot through the attack, but survived, and with using a weapon whereas committing a felony.

He has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors had instructed a judge Might 20 the grand jury had voted to indict Gendron but didn't disclose costs, saying proceedings were ongoing.

Gendron’s attorney, Brian Parker, said he had not seen the indictment and couldn't comment, adding that prosecution and defense attorneys have been barred by a judge from discussing the case publicly.

The horrific nature of the crime and number of victims was more likely to already assure a life sentence if Gendron is convicted. New York has no death penalty. However including a state terrorism cost might carry further emotional resonance and help authorities send a message about violent extremism.

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

“This man was motivated by hate towards individuals he by no means met for no cause aside from the color of their pores and skin,” stated 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 every depend.

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

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

Prosecutors mentioned Gendron drove about three hours to Buffalo from his house in Conklin, New York, aspiring to kill as many Black folks as potential. Shortly earlier than the assault he posted documents that outlined his white supremacist views and revealed he had been planning the assault for months.

The gunman, carrying an AR-15-style rifle he had lately purchased, opened fireplace on Saturday afternoon buyers at a Tops grocery store in Buffalo.

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

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

Mackniel was in the retailer to purchase a birthday cake for his 3-year-old. Massey was a neighborhood activist who had championed gun management and fought towards 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 said. He is a part of a crew of attorneys exploring potential authorized motion against the producers of the weapon and physique armor utilized by the gunman, in addition to social media platforms.

The assault was livestreamed from a helmet-mounted digicam.

“Someway we’re going to search out justice for the Massey family, for the Mackniel household and all those others that have been affected by this tragedy,” Elmore mentioned.

Federal authorities also are investigating the opportunity of hate crime charges against Gendron, who apparently detailed his plans and his racist motivation in a whole bunch of pages of writings he posted online shortly earlier than the shooting.

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

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

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