According to police, accused killer Payton Gendron took several reconnaissance missions to Tops supermarket in Buffalo as he planned the shooting spree and specifically targeted the location because he knew it was in a Black neighborhood.
It was a weekend of deadly violence across the United States, with 312 shootings that left 127 dead and 294 others wounded — including a mass shooting at an upstate New York grocery store.
Payton Gendron, 18, is accused of opening fire at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, killing 10 people and injuring three others.
“I’m across the street and I'm hearing the echoes — boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom,” said witness Grady Lewis, who tells Inside Edition he saw Gendron outside the supermarket the day before the massacre, and that they spoke for an hour.
“I sensed that something was wrong with him,” Lewis said.
According to police, the accused killer took several reconnaissance missions to the supermarket as he planned the shooting spree.
Gendron, who is white, allegedly posted a 180-page diatribe online filled with racist invective and praise for other mass killers. Police say he drove 200 miles from his home in Conklin to Buffalo, and specifically targeted the Tops supermarket because he knew it was in a Black neighborhood.
“This is a center of the community where people shop, where they gather, where they talk,” Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said of the market.
Gendron appeared in court with bare feet and wearing only a white paper gown. He pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.
District attorney John Flynn says that Gendron was about to kill himself when he was confronted by police.
“They immediately took the proper steps, which they're supposed to do, and try to talk him down. [They said] ‘Put the gun down sir, don’t hurt yourself,’” Flynn said.
When asked about claims that Gendron was treated with more care than other suspects, Flynn said, “That clearly did not happen.”
On Sunday night, Justin Bieber had a concert in Buffalo and paused to remember the victims with a moment of silence.
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