Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump vowed on Thursday to hold everyone who was an accomplice to the Buffalo supermarket shooting accountable, per National Review. Crump stood alongside Rev. Al Sharpton and the families of the victims in front of Antioch Baptist Church to condemn the hate-fueled incident and announce his plans on how to move forward.
Per National Review’s report, gun manufacturers have avoided liability under federal law when their guns are used to commit a crime. That’s not stopping Crump from seeking a lawsuit against the makers of the gun the shooter, Payton Gendron, used. Also, the families of the victims from the Sandy Hook shooting won a settlement of $73 million after suing the company of the AR-15 used in the incident. We could see the same thing happen here.
“We absolutely intend on going after the gun manufacturers, the gun distributors, and anybody else who was an accomplice to this young, 18-year-old white supremacist,” Crump said in the press conference.
The families shared remarks on the tragedy and the last moments they had with their loved ones before they were senselessly killed.
More from New York Post:
“My mom [became] a victim of this because somebody woke up and decided they didn’t like black people and shot a hollow point bullet [through her right temple] with her fiance watching, hiding in the cooler as best as he could,” Mark Talley, 32, said of his mother, Geraldine Talley, 62, who was killed in the shooting.
Veronica White recounted how her nephew Andre Mackniel, 53, was at the market to buy a surprise birthday cake for his 3-year-old son when he was shot in the back of the head. She said Mackniel’s son doesn’t yet know that his father is dead and “keeps thinking his father is asleep.”
Robin Whitfield, the eldest daughter of Ruth Whitfield, 86, said her mother was her best friend and the two had plans to see The Temptations at a concert the night she was slaughtered. “And I have the tickets still on my table,” Robin said as she trembled.
Crump said he also suggested he would hold Gendron’s parents accountable for the shooting.
Gendron was indicted Thursday by a grand jury. The charge was not specified, per The Washington Post.