The white supremacist who killed 10 black people in a Buffalo supermarket has been sentenced to life in prison without parole after relatives of his victims confronted him with the grief and anger caused by his racist attack.
Payton Gendron, whose hatred was fueled by racist conspiracy theories she found online, wept during part of the testimony and apologized to the victims and their families.
Some angrily condemned it; others quoted the Bible or said they were praying for him. Several pointed out that he deliberately targeted a black community far from his almost all-white hometown.
“You’ve been brainwashed,” Wayne Jones Sr., the only son of victim Celestine Chaney, said as sobs erupted from the audience. “You don’t even know black people enough to hate them. You learned this on the internet and it was a big mistake.”
Gendron pleaded guilty in November to crimes including hate-motivated murder and domestic terrorism, a charge that carries an automatic life sentence.
“There can be no mercy for you, no understanding, no second chances,” Judge Susan Eagan said in sentencing him.
Gendron, 19, also faces separate federal charges that could carry a death sentence if the US Department of Justice decides to pursue her. His defense attorney said in December that Gendron is also prepared to plead guilty in federal court to avoid execution. New York State does not have the death penalty.
The killer wore bullet-resistant armor and a helmet equipped with a live-streaming camera when he carried out the May 14 attack with a semi-automatic rifle he bought legally, but later modified so it could be loaded with illegal ammunition magazines. high capacity.
In his brief statement, Gendron acknowledged that he “shot and killed people because they were black.”
There were only three survivors among the 13 people he shot while specifically targeting black buyers and workers.
His victims at the Tops Market included a church deacon, the store guard, a neighborhood activist, a man buying a birthday cake, a grandmother of nine, and the mother of a former Buffalo fire commissioner. . The victims were between the ages of 32 and 86.
In published documents onlineGendron said he hoped the attack would help preserve white power in the United States. He wrote that he chose Tops grocery store, about a three-hour drive from his home in Conklin, New York, because he was in a largely black neighborhood.
The mass shooting in Buffalo, and another less than two weeks later that killed 19 students and two teachers at a Texas elementary school, amplified calls for stricter gun controls, including from relatives of the victims who traveled to Washington, DC. DC to testify before lawmakers.
New York lawmakers quickly passed a law banning the sale of semi-automatic rifles to most people under the age of 21. The state also banned the sale of some types of bulletproof vests.
