The white man accused of fatally shooting 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket last month was indicted by a grand jury on 25 counts on Wednesday, which includes state domestic terrorism and hate crime charges.
Police said 18-year-old Payton Gendron, the suspect, shot 13 people at Tops Friendly Markets in a predominantly Black neighborhood. Nearly all of the victims were Black.
Gendron was arrested shortly after the shooting concluded. Gendron surrendered to police. The suspect is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in Erie County Court.
The 25-count indictment includes 10 counts of first-degree murder, 10 counts of second-degree murder charges as hate crimes, and three counts of attempted murder of people who were shot during the shooting but survived. Additionally, Gendron is charged with criminal possession of a weapon.
The first count, domestic terrorism motivated by hate, alleges Gendron carried out the shooting “because of the perceived race and/or color of such person or persons” who were injured and killed.
Gendron was previously indicted on a first-degree murder charge. He pleaded not guilty to the charge and was held without bail.
Law enforcement officials described the shooting last month as “racially motivated violent extremism.” Out of the 13 people the suspect shot, 11 were Black, according to authorities.
Prosecutors said Gendron allegedly drove several hours from his home in Conklin, New York with the intention of killing Black people. The suspect opened fire at shoppers at the Buffalo supermarket using an AR-15-style rifle he had recently purchased. Gendron live-streamed the shooting on Twitch.
Authorities at the time said they are investigating a manifesto that Gendron is suspected of posting online days before the shooting. The manifesto reportedly outlined specific plans to target Black people and repeatedly cited the “Great Replacement” theory, according to NBC News. The conspiracy theory, which has been widely shared on the right and often echoed on Fox News and by conservative lawmakers, claims a cabal is attempting to replace white Americans with non-white people through immigration, interracial marriage and violence.
A PDF of the manifesto was posted to Google Docs two days before the shooting, according to NBC News. In the manifesto, Gendron reportedly refers to himself as a white supremacist and an antisemite as he outlines a plan to attack a predominantly Black neighborhood, the Washington Post reported.
