Peyton Gendron, the man allegedly behind the May 14 racially-motivated Buffalo massacre that left 10 dead, is now facing 25 charges. On Wednesday, the grand jury in the case indicted him on: 10 counts of first-degree murder as a hate crime, 10 counts of second-degree murder as a hate crime, three counts of attempted second-degree murder as a hate crime, one count of domestic terrorism motivated by hate and one count of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
Gendron—a self-proclaimed white supremacist—drove over 100 miles to Tops Supermarket in a predominantly Black neighborhood to gun down its residents. His manifesto, published online days before the shooting, outlined his plan to murder Black people in order to keep them from outnumbering white people in America.
In addition to the 10 people who lost their lives, 3 people were also injured in the shooting. The violent attack was livestreamed by Gendron on Twitch. During a speech in Buffalo just 3 days after the murders, President Biden labeled white supremacist rhetoric a “poison” in the U.S. He also called Gendron a terrorist.
“What happened here is simple and straightforward: Terrorism. Terrorism. Domestic terrorism,” Biden said. “Violence inflicted in the service of hate and the vicious thirst for power that defines one group of people being inherently inferior to any other group. We have to refuse to live in a country where Black people going about a weekly grocery shopping can be gunned down by weapons of war deployed in a racist cause.”
If convicted of domestic terrorism motivated by hate, Gendron would receive life in prison without parole. He is scheduled to be arraigned on all charges Thursday afternoon.