Ns News Online Desk: Buffalo City Mayor Brian Brown described Saturday as a day of great pain for city residents. “We cannot allow this hateful person to divide our country,” he said. At least 10 people have been killed and three others injured in a shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.
The incident took place on Saturday afternoon local time. Police arrested a 16-year-old white man from the supermarket as a suspect soon after the incident. His identity was not initially revealed. It was later revealed that he was a young white man from New York. Encouraged by racism, he carried out the attack. New York police called it a “racist violent attack.” News Reuters
According to court documents, the suspect was identified as Peyton Gendron. He is a resident of Southern Tire, New York, near the Pennsylvania border. Police say the young man appeared alone with an assault rifle. He drove a few hours from home to Buffalo, a black-dominated area. He started firing before entering the parking lot of the supermarket. He also broadcast the whole event live on Amazon’s Twitch platform.
Officials said 11 of the 13 people killed in the shootings were black. The other two are white. Erie County District Attorney John Flynn said Peton Gendron was charged with murder a few hours after the shooting. He could face life imprisonment for this crime. There is no provision for the death penalty in a New York court.
Flynn added that the court denied Gendron bail and ordered him to remain in police custody. The court also ordered forensic examination. He has been ordered to appear in court again on May 19.
Authorities say Gandron is a student at Broome Community College at State University of New York near Binghampton, according to local media reports. He wanted to commit suicide shortly after the attack. But before that the police arrested him.
Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said in a news release that Gendron held a gun to his neck when police surrounded him after a shooting at a supermarket. He later surrendered after a conversation with police officers. Gramaglia added that Gandron Tops shot and killed three people in the parking lot before entering a supermarket called Friendly Markets.
Soon after, he started firing on a former police officer who was working as a security guard in the supermarket. But Gendron’s body was protected by special protective armor. His shots killed nine people, including the security guard, who were shopping at the supermarket. Three employees of the supermarket were injured at the time.
Shonell Harris, who works as a Tops manager, said he heard at least 70 shots. He stumbled several times before exiting through the back door of the market. Looking at the gunman’s outfit, it looked like he was a member of the army.
Eyewitness Catherine Crofton, a retired Fire Service employee, said she saw the gunman shoot from her porch. He first shot a woman. The woman was going to the supermarket. He then shot a woman who was busy shopping in a supermarket. Then he hid in fear.
Stephen Belangia, a FBI agent with the US Central Intelligence Agency, said that under the law, the attack could be investigated as both a heinous crime and a violent racist attack.
“This man is a devil,” Erie County Sheriff John Garcia told a news conference. Coming from outside our community, he has committed a heinous crime directly inspired by racism.
‘U.S. President Joe Biden condemned the incident as “disgusting.” He says there is no safe haven for hatred. We must do everything we can to end hate terrorism.
New York Governor Kathy Hutchul said the attacker had publicized his heinous act directly on social media. He is disappointed that the platform from which it was broadcast did not take any action.
The governor of New York has lashed out at the platform for facilitating the spread of violent extremist ideology. He also pointed out the lack of surveillance in spreading such issues through social media.
A statement from Twitch said they were able to “shut down” the show within two minutes of the start of the live broadcast. They have also taken steps to prevent the video from spreading on the platform.
However, a document has already been leaked online, which shows that the young man had already written about his plans. It was written as a work schedule to clean the gun and test the gun. There were even plans to broadcast the attack live.
Apart from this, a 180 page manifesto called ‘The Great Replacement Theory’ has been spread on social media. It says whites have been replaced by minorities in the United States and other countries. Gendron is thought to be the author of the manifesto.
However, the New York Police Department did not comment on the statement. New York Mayor Hutchul said he would work harder to implement a pre-planned package to control guns.
The shootings in New York are thought to be the latest in a string of racist killings in the United States. Earlier, in October 2016, 11 people were shot dead in a Pittsburgh synagogue. In March 2021, eight people were killed in a white shooting at a spa in Atlanta. The incident on Saturday is reminiscent of a live broadcast of a shooting at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand in 2019.
Buffalo City Mayor Brian Brown described Saturday as a day of great pain for city residents. “We cannot allow this hateful person to divide our country,” he said.
