Buffalo shooter Payton Gendron pleads guilty in court
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A teenager has pleaded guilty to murder and hate-motivated terrorism charges after killing 10 black shoppers in a supermarket - in a bid he hoped would help preserve white power in the US.
Payton Gendron, 19, admitted the charges on Monday after he was arrested using a semiautomatic rifle to gun down innocent and unsuspecting shoppers in an upstate New York neighbourhood.
Gendron wore body armour and used a legally purchased AR-15 rifle during his attack at Tops Supermarket in Buffalo.
His victims ranged in age from 32 to 86 and included an armed security guard trying to protect customers, as well as a church deacon and the mother of a former Buffalo fire commissioner. He surrendered to police as he emerged from the store.
Just before the attack, Gendron posted documents online which showed he picked the store, about a three-hour drive from his home in Conklin, New York, because it was in a predominately black neighbourhood.
He claimed he was motivated by a belief in a conspiracy theory to dilute the power of white people by "replacing" them with people of colour.
On Monday, at an Erie County Court hearing, Gendron was dressed in an orange jumpsuit. He occasionally licked and clenched his lips as he pleaded guilty to the most serious charges included in the grand jury indictment, including murder, murder as a hate crime and hate motivated domestic terrorism, which carries an automatic sentence of life without parole.
Gendron answered "yes" and "guilty" as Judge Susan Eagan referred to each victim by name and asked whether he killed them because of their race.
He also pleaded guilty to wounding three people who survived the May attack.
Payton Gendron pled guilty to charges of murder, hate crimes and terrorism. (Image: AP)
Mark Talley, whose mother Geraldine was killed in the shooting, speaks following the plea. (Image: AP)
Several family members of the victims attended the hearing. They told reporters that the plea left them cold and didn't address the larger problem of racism in America.
"His voice made me feel sick, but it showed me I was right," said Zeneta Everhart, whose 20-year-old son was shot in the neck but survived. "This country has a problem. This country is inherently violent. It is racist. And his voice showed that to me."
Attorney Benjamin Crump, who represents several of the victims' families, said they remain baffled that the gunman survived. They want harsh punishment, he said: "We want him to be treated as the heinous, cold blooded vicious murderer that he was for killing all these innocent Black people. It is emotional and we are angry."
Mark Talley, the son of Geraldine Talley, who was killed, called on authorities to incarcerate him in Erie County, in the same community where he caused so much pain, so that he might face the same horror experienced by his victims.
"I want that pain to eat at him every second of every day for the rest of his life," Ms Talley said.
Gendron's lawyers suggested that he regretted his crimes but did not take questions or elaborate.
Brian Parker, one of his lawyers, said: "This critical step represents a condemnation of the racist ideology that fuelled his horrific actions on May 14.
READ MORE: Remains of four babies found inside apartment
Gendron said he was motivated to murder by white supremacy. (Image: AP)
Zeneta Everhart, whose son was shot but survived, told reporters Gendron made her 'feel sick'. (Image: AP)
"It is our hope that a final resolution of the state charges will help in some small way to keep the focus on the needs of the victims and the community."
The shooter's parents, Paul and Pamela Gendron, released their first public statement following the guilty pleas via their attorney.
It said: "We remain shocked and shattered to learn that our son was responsible for the hideous attack at the Tops grocery store on May 14, 2022."
The statement added that they continued to "pray for healing for everyone affected" and thanked law enforcement officials who investigated the case adding they would "continue to provide any assistance we can."
Gendron pleaded not guilty to separate federal hate crime charges which could lead to the death penalty if he is convicted.
The US Justice Department has not said whether it would seek capital punishment in the case. Acknowledgement of guilt and a claim of repentance could potentially help Gendron in a penalty phase of a death penalty trial.
The plea comes as many Americans have become desensitised to deadly mass shootings due to their relatively common occurrence in the US.
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Ten people lost their lives in the racially motivated shooting in Buffalo, New York. (Image: GETTY)
In recent weeks, there have been mass shootings at a Walmart in Virginia, at a gay club in Colorado and at the University of Virginia.
Just days after the attack committed by Gendron in Buffalo, a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at a primary school in Uvalde, Texas.
Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown, who was in the courtroom for Gendron’s guilty plea, told reporters afterwards that “It was important to hear why these precious lives were snatched from us for no other reason than the colour of their skin.”
The mayor, a Democrat, called for a ban on assault weapons, as did Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia. Relatives of the victims reiterated their calls for Congress and the FBI to address white supremacy and gun violence.
"We are literally begging for those in power to do something about it," said Garnell Whitfield, whose 86-year-old mother, Ruth Whitfield, was killed.