Trevor Schakohl on February 15, 2023
A judge sentenced the perpetrator of the May 14 mass shooting at a Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo, New York, to life in prison without the possibility of parole Wednesday.
Payton Gendron murdered 10 people and wounded 3 others at the grocery store in a predominantly black area, according to The Associated Press, having deemed himself a “white supremacist” and “anti-Semite” whose beliefs developed on 4chan and Reddit after the COVID-19 pandemic in a 106-page manifesto. Eleven of Gendron victims were black, and he pleaded guilty to the 15 state charges against him and not guilty to 23 federal charges including ten hate crime counts, though his attorneys claimed in December he would be willing to enter federal guilty pleas in exchange for dropping the possibility of capital punishment, according to CNN.
WATCH:
Gendron said Wednesday that he regretted his actions and did not want anyone to be inspired by him and what he did.
Many victims’ relatives attended the Wednesday sentencing hearing. A man in the courtroom began running towards Gendron at one point as one victim’s family member spoke, and police temporarily removed Gendron from the room.
Security guard and retired Buffalo police lieutenant Aaron Salter Jr. was killed in the shooting as he protected shoppers at the store, the Democrat and Chronicle reported.
“My family and I are here this morning, and we wear red and black,” Salter’s wife Kimberly said. “Red for the blood he shed for his family and for his community, and black because we are still grieving.”
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