Buffalo supermarket gunman pleads guilty to terrorism and murder charges in racist attack

The 19-year-old gunman who carried out a racist attack at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, has pleaded guilty to state charges of domestic terrorism as a hate crime, murder and attempted murder.

Buffalo gunman Pleads Guilty

Payton Gendron pleaded guilty to one count of domestic act of terrorism motivated by hate, 10 counts of first-degree murder, three counts of attempted murder and a weapons possession charge in the mass shooting at Tops Friendly Markets on May 14.

The guilty plea comes six months after Gendron used an illegally modified semiautomatic rifle to carry out the racially motivated mass shooting.

Racially motivated attack

Gendron killed 10 Black people and injured three others in the May 14 shooting.

The victims, including customers, employees and an armed security guard, ranged in age from 20 to 86. Eleven of the 13 people shot were Black and two were White.

Social media posts and a manifesto written by the gunman revealed he had planned his attack for months and had visited the Tops supermarket on several occasions previously. He posted that he chose Tops because it was in a particular area in Buffalo that had the highest percentage of Black people close enough to where he lived in Conklin, New York.

The document outlined his goals for the attack: “To kill as many African Americans as possible, avoid dying and spread ideals.”

Federal hate crime and sentencing

Gendron also faces multiple federal hate crime charges, which carry the potential for the death penalty, in addition to several firearms charges. He has pleaded not guilty to the federal charges.

The state charges come with a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

He is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 15, 2023.