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Authorities say a heavily armed 18-year-old white gunman killed ten people in a “racially motivated” attack at a Buffalo, New York grocery store on Saturday.
After the carnage, the gunman, who was wearing a helmet and tactical gear, was apprehended, according to Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia.
According to Gramaglia, 10 people were killed and three others were injured. According to police, the majority of the victims were Black.
According to Gramaglia, the gunman shot four persons in the parking area of the Tops supermarket, three of whom were killed, before going inside and continuing to fire.
A veteran police officer serving as an armed security guard was one among the people killed inside the store.
According to Gramaglia, the guard “engaged the suspect, fired many shots,” but the gunman, who was wearing body armour, shot him.
The shooter held his gun to his neck when police arrived, but was talked down and eventually surrendered, he said.
The FBI’s Buffalo field office is investigating the shooting as a hate crime, according to Stephen Belongia, special agent in charge of the Buffalo field office.
“We’re looking at it as a hate crime as well as a case of racially motivated violent extremism,” Belongia added.
Sheriff John Garcia of Eerie County called the attack as “pure wickedness.”
He stated, “It was a racially motivated hate crime done by someone from outside our community.”
‘Great Pain Day’
The suspect will be charged with murder in the first degree, which carries a life sentence without parole, according to Eerie County District Attorney John Flynn.
The shooter “went hours from outside this town to perpetrate this murder,” according to Byron Brown, the mayor of Buffalo, which is located in western New York near the US-Canada border.
Brown stated, “This is a day of enormous grief for our community.”
US President Joe Biden was briefed on the “horrific shooting,” according to White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
Biden “We’ll be getting updates throughout the evening and tomorrow as more information becomes available. The president and first lady are sending their condolences to those who have died and their families.” Jean-Pierre expanded.
“We are standing with the people of Buffalo,” stated Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the senior US senator from New York, in a tweet.
Kathy Hochul, the governor of New York, also tweeted that she was keeping an eye on the situation and advised Buffalo residents to “leave the area and follow law police and local leaders’ instructions.”
A “sniper-style” shooter opened fire in an upmarket Washington suburb last month, hurting four people before killing himself.
Police believe the gruesome video of the massacre that appeared online immediately afterward was shot by the shooter himself, but have yet to confirm its authenticity or whether it was live-streamed.
