Gunman in racist Buffalo shooting faces life without parole at
sentencing
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[February 15, 2023]
By Lindsay DeDario and Tyler Clifford
BUFFALO (Reuters) - The avowed white supremacist who confessed to
fatally shooting 10 Black people last year at a western New York grocery
store faces a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the
attack when he appears in state court on Wednesday.
Payton Gendron, 19, pleaded guilty to a total of 15 charges, including
murder and domestic terrorism motivated by hate, for carrying out the
May 14 mass shooting in Buffalo, according to the Erie County District
Attorney's Office.
Gendron was the first defendant in New York to be indicted for a
domestic act of terrorism motivated by hate in the first degree under a
state law enacted in 2020.
He faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole on the
domestic terrorism charge alone. New York does not have capital
punishment, although he still could get a death sentence if convicted of
pending federal charges.
Prosecutors say the gunman targeted a Tops Friendly Markets supermarket
in a Black neighborhood of Buffalo, about 200 miles away from his home,
intending to kill as many Black people as he could with an assault
weapon. In addition to the 10 people who were killed, three others were
wounded.
Gendron, of Conklin, New York, was scheduled to appear before Judge
Susan Eagan in Erie County Court at 9:30 a.m. local time. He was 18 at
the time of the attack.
The rampage shocked a country that has grown accustomed to mass
shootings and where racial strife continues to simmer.
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Buffalo shooting suspect, Payton S.
Gendron, appears in court accused of killing 10 people in a
live-streamed supermarket shooting in a Black neighborhood of
Buffalo, New York, U.S., May 19, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
The victims ranged in age from 20 to 86 and included staff, patrons
and community advocates. Two of the survivors are white, officials
said.
Gendron is expected to issue an apology to the families of the
victims during the hearing, the Buffalo News reported, citing
unnamed sources.
An apology "does not erase what he did. He should suffer just like
the families that have been left behind," Zeneta Everhart, whose
21-year-old son was wounded, told the newspaper. She is expected to
deliver a victim impact statement at Wednesday's hearing.
In addition to state charges, Gendron faces 27 federal hate crimes
and firearms offenses. He pleaded not guilty to those charges in
July, and his lawyers have sought a plea deal in an effort to avoid
a death sentence allowed under federal law. The Justice Department
has not disclosed what punishment it would seek if Gendron is
convicted.
The gunman streamed live video of the assault to the social media
platform Twitch after posting a racist screed online detailing his
inspiration from other racially motivated mass killings, authorities
said.
(Reporting by Tyler Clifford in New York; Editing by Caitlin Webber)
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