Payton Gendron was arrested by police after a shooting at a Buffalo supermarket on Saturday. Since then, its disturbing profile has been emerging, as President Joe Biden has called the drama « domestic terrorism ».
On his weapon, a racial slur and a number, 14, used as a slogan by white supremacists. At only 18, Payton Gendron, committed one of the worst shootings in the United States on Saturday. Equipped with an assault rifle and a bulletproof vest, he opened fire in a Buffalo supermarket, hitting 13 people, including 11 African Americans. Ten of them were killed. President Joe Biden, like New York State Attorney General Letitia James, quickly qualified this killing as “domestic terrorism” whose hateful and racist character is beyond doubt. Since the tragedy, the profile of the murderer is indeed emerging.
On Sunday, federal authorities announced they were verifying the origin of a 180-page manifesto, posted online under the gunman’s name, in which Payton Gendron said he was inspired by crimes committed by other white supremacists in the past. , including the 2019 massacre of 51 worshipers at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. He would have evoked in this document the theory of the “great replacement”, believing that the whites had to increase their birth rate in order not to be “replaced by the non-white foreigners”. According to the manifesto, « replacements » are to be eliminated by force or terror. The WIFR channel indicates that the attack on Saturday, in addition to eliminating black people, was also intended to scare all non-white, non-Christian people and force them to leave the country. Moreover, just like the Christchurch terrorist who broadcast his crime live, the American also committed his attack by filming himself on the Twitch platform. “This individual came here with the goal of taking as many black lives as possible,” the mayor of Buffalo said at a press conference on Sunday.
Threats against his school
In the “New York Post”, the owner of the shop in which the teenager bought his weapon said “to feel terribly badly”. He was informed by the police directly after the tragedy to be the one who sold him his Bushmaster XM-15. In the manifesto posted online, the suspect reportedly announced his intention to carry out a shooting with that particular weapon. The man explained that he does not remember this particular sale because of the number of customers who come each day. But a search of his files carried out with two agents who came to question him showed that he had not seen “any alert” concerning the teenager when he met him. “He had no particular attitude. Otherwise, if that had been the case, I would never have sold him that weapon. I don’t understand how an 18 year old boy can do that. I know I didn’t do anything wrong but I feel terrible, » he said.
According to the first elements of the investigation, Payton Gendron would have transformed the weapon once purchased, to make it more lethal. If, during this purchase, the attacker showed no signs suggesting his future crime, his past was however cause for concern. Last year, when he was still a high school student, he had threatened his establishment to commit a shooting. He had not been prosecuted for these threats but had been hospitalized in order to follow a psychological evaluation. He was then able to return home quickly. “Apparently he was investigated when he was a high school student. He had a medical evaluation based on something he had written at school,” confirmed the New York prosecutor. Despite these serious threats, once released from the hospital, Payton Gendron no longer had any contact with the authorities. He then graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 2021 and has since been enrolled at SUNY Broome Community College. Many are now wondering whether the teenager was able to obtain a weapon legally, despite the threats made against his high school. « This is exactly what we are currently investigating, » Governor Kathy Hochul said when asked about it.
According to the investigation, the day before the terrorist attack, Payton Gendron would have come to recognize the place. “This was clearly a racially motivated hate crime. This person is evil,” Erie County Sheriff John Garcia said. And the place would have been specifically chosen. While the shooter lives in Conklin where the population is 95% white, he would have gone to Buffalo, 320 kilometers from his home, choosing a neighborhood inhabited by a majority of African-Americans. In addition to his assault rifle, he also had two other weapons ready for use in his car. CNN sourced part of the video from Twitch. It is filmed from the shooter’s point of view. The platform claimed to have removed it from its live stream less than two minutes after the attack began. So far, Payton Gendron has been charged with murder and has pleaded not guilty. New hate crime and terrorism charges may be added soon.