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An 18-year-old man dressed in military uniform opened fire with a rifle at a grocery store in Buffalo, killing ten people and injuring three others on Saturday.
US authorities describe the case as “violent extremism with racial motives”.
Police said the gunman shot 11 people of color and two whites before surrendering to authorities. He had broadcast the whole event live on the Twitch platform.
He later appeared before a judge on murder charges.
“I really hope this individual, this white supermacist who just committed the crime of hatred against an innocent community, spends the rest of his life behind bars,” said New York Governor Kathy Hochul, speaking at the scene.
The event sparked outrage in the country, which faces racial tensions, gun violence and a wave of hate crimes. A day before the shooting, Dallas police said they were investigating a series of shootings in an Asian-inhabited area on suspicion of hate crimes. Also, the Buffalo attack comes a month after mass shootings on a subway in Brooklyn, where ten people were injured.
The suspected attacker in Buffalo was identified as Payton Gendron from Conklin, New York, located about 320 miles southeast of Buffalo.
It is still not clear why Payton traveled to Buffalo and exactly chose the store where he carried out the attack. Meanwhile, a video posted on his Twitch account shows him arriving with his car at this grocery store.
The attacker shot four people outside the store, three of whom died, said police commander Joseph Gramaglia. Meanwhile, inside the store, security guard Aaron Salter, a police officer in person, fired at the attacker. He managed to hit him, but the attacker was wearing bulletproof, Gramaglia said.
The attacker then killed the guard, police said, moving through the store, shooting other victims.
Police entered the store and confronted the attacker. The assailant placed his weapon near his neck, but police managed to persuade him to hand over the weapon, Gramaglia said.
“This is the worst nightmare any community can face,” Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown told a news conference.
The Twitch platform said in a statement that the attacker had broadcast on this platform “less than two minutes after the violence started”.
Police officials told the Associated Press that investigators are looking into whether the attacker posted any manifesto online.
US President Joe Biden said in a statement that he and the First Lady are praying for the victims and their families.
“We are still learning more about the motives of the shootings today as the authorities do their job, but we do not need anything to be clear: A racially motivated crime is disgusting to the structure of the to this nation, “he said.
“Every act of internal terrorism, including acts committed in the name of a disgusting ideology of white nationalism, is contrary to everything we stand for in America,” said President Biden.
The shop where the attack took place, Tops Firendly Markets, said in a statement that “we are shocked and deeply saddened by this senseless act of violence and our prayers and thoughts are with the victims and their families.”
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