BUFFALO, NY (AP) – The 18-year-old white man accused of shooting 10 blacks at a Buffalo supermarket was charged Wednesday by a grand jury of domestic terrorism motivated by hatred and 10 counts of first-degree murder.
Payton Gendron, who has been in custody since the May 14 shooting, is scheduled to stand trial Thursday in Erie County Court.
The 25-count indictment also contains murder charges and attempted murder as a hate crime and possession of a weapon.
Gendron had previously been charged with first-degree homicide in the shooting, which also injured three people. He pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors told a judge on May 20 that the grand jury had voted to charge Gendron, but did not disclose the charges, saying the proceedings were ongoing.
The accusation of domestic terrorism accuses Gendron of killing “because of the perceived race and / or color” of his victims.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed the Domestic Terror Hate Crimes Act in August 2019, following a mass shooting at Mexicans at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas. The measure, dubbed the “Josef Neumann Hate Crime Domestic Terrorism Act” following an attack on a rabbi’s home in Munsey, New York, was signed into law on April 3, 2020 and enter into force on 1 November 2020.
The indictment, domestic acts of terrorism motivated by first-degree hatred, is punishable by life imprisonment without parole.
Assassination charges were filed for each of the victims, who ranged in age from 32 to 86 and included eight shoppers, a store security guard and a church deacon leading shoppers to the shop with its groceries.
The gunman, who was carrying an AR-15-style rifle he had recently bought, opened fire on Saturday afternoon shoppers at the neighborhood’s only predominantly black supermarket.
The shooting, followed 10 days after a mass shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers inside an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, has renewed a national debate over gun control and violent extremism.
Federal authorities are also investigating the possibility of charges of hate crimes against Gendron, who apparently detailed his plans and racist motivation in hundreds of pages of writings he posted online shortly before the shooting. The attack was broadcast live from a helmet-mounted camera.
Gendron drove about three hours from his home in Conklin, New York, with the intent of killing as many blacks as possible, according to investigators.
His lawyer, Brian Parker, said he had not seen the indictment and could not comment, adding that a judge had prevented prosecution and defense lawyers from publicly debating the case.
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Associated Press writer Michael Sisak contributed from New York.