Buffalo shooting suspect suspected of ‘racist extremism’

Payton Gendron, 18, is suspected of “racially motivated, violent extremism” by US authorities. The police commissioner of the city of Buffalo said this on Sunday, American media reported. A shooting took place at a supermarket in the city on Saturday, killing ten people and injuring three others. Eleven of the victims were black and two white. Gendron is suspected as a shooter.

Meanwhile, the motives of the likely perpetrator are becoming increasingly clear. American media write about a racist manifesto circulating on the internet and allegedly written by Gendron. The manifesto, entitled ‘The Great Replacement Theory’ as an extreme right-wing conspiracy theory, states, among other things, that white people in the United States are being “replaced” by minorities. According to the governor of New York State, where Buffalo is located, the manifesto says “everything” and that is what makes the act so “horrifying”. Detectives are investigating the authenticity of the pamphlet.

Authorities report that Gendron drove more than 300 kilometers from his hometown to the supermarket in Buffalo, which is located in a neighborhood where predominantly black Americans live. He is said to have opened fire in a parking lot, dressed in military clothing. Then there was a massacre in the supermarket. After the attack, a suspect was arrested by the police. The attack was broadcast live on the platform Twitch, which says it removed the video within minutes. Nevertheless, the images quickly spread across the web.

Gendron mentally examined

Gendron has threatened to attack his own high school in the past year, according to police, after which he was briefly detained and mentally examined. The outcome of that investigation has not been disclosed. New York Governor Kathy Hochul told television channel: ABC News that the suspect had been on the radar of the authorities for some time “for something he wrote during his high school”, without elaborating on it.

Gendron was immediately arraigned in court on Saturday, where he pleaded not guilty. He remains in prison and cannot be released on bail. He is expected to appear again next Thursday. The sherriff of Erie County, the district where Buffalo is located, said Gendron was imprisoned on a “suicide prevention” regime and is isolated from other inmates.

The day after the shooting, residents of the city gathered to mourn and pray. A vigil was also held for the victims. The AP news agency noted that Sharon Doyle, a 55-year-old security guard at the local library, used the slogan “Black Lives Matter, my life matters”.