Buffalo grocery store gunman indicted on terror, hate cost

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — The white man accused of killing 10 Black people in a racist attack on a Buffalo grocery store was indicted by a grand jury Wednesday on a state home terrorism and hate crime charge that may carry a compulsory 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 charge hastily prepared in the hours after the Might 14 shooting.

The 18-year-old has now also been charged with the tried murders of three people who had been shot in the course of the attack, however survived, and with using a weapon while committing a felony.

He has pleaded not responsible. Prosecutors had told a decide May 20 the grand jury had voted to indict Gendron however didn't disclose costs, saying proceedings were ongoing.

Gendron’s attorney, Brian Parker, stated he had not seen the indictment and could not comment, including that prosecution and defense attorneys have been barred by a decide from discussing the case publicly.

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

The domestic terrorism cost — Home Acts of Terrorism Motivated by Hate within the First Degree — accuses Gendron of killing “due to the perceived race and/or coloration” of his victims.

“This man was motivated by hate against people he by no means met for no cause other than the colour of their skin,” mentioned Buffalo lawyer John Elmore, who represents the families of victims Katherine “Kat” Massey, 72, and Andre Mackniel, 53. Elmore stated he hoped for a conviction on every rely.

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

The law expanded on a earlier home terrorism statute handed after the 9/11 terrorist attack that was largely envisioned as a strategy to go after international extremism.

Prosecutors stated Gendron drove about three hours to Buffalo from his home in Conklin, New York, desiring to kill as many Black people as possible. Shortly earlier than the assault he posted documents 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 lately purchased, opened hearth on Saturday afternoon consumers at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo.

Murder prices have 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 shoppers to and from the shop 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 college, has renewed a national debate about gun management.

Mackniel was in the retailer to buy 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 at the hands of a weapon of mass destruction is extremely upsetting to me,” he said. He's part of a crew of attorneys exploring potential legal motion towards the manufacturers of the weapon and body armor used by the gunman, as well as social media platforms.

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

“Someway we’re going to find justice for the Massey family, for the Mackniel household and all these others that were affected by this tragedy,” Elmore stated.

Federal authorities also are investigating the potential of hate crime expenses towards Gendron, who apparently detailed his plans and his racist motivation in tons of of pages of writings he posted online shortly earlier than the taking pictures.

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

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

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