President Joe Biden is set to visit Buffalo on Tuesday to meet and grieve with relatives of the 10 people killed Saturday during a hate-fueled shootingrampage at a busy Buffalo supermarket in a predominately Black neighborhood.
The slain, who ranged in age from 32 to 86 years old, were either working or shopping atthe Tops Friendly Markets store on Jefferson Avenue. Three others were injured but survived.Among those killed - a deacon, a civil right advocate and the store's security guard, who was killed after exchanging gunfire with the shooter.
An 18-year-old man from Broome County was charged with first-degree murder and officials said they will weigh additional charges in the coming days.
On Tuesday,Biden and first ladyJill Biden will first visit a memorial for the shooting victims before meeting with families, first responders and law enforcement officials at a community center.
Updates from Sunday: Police say Gendron threatened to attack his high school last year
Memorials outside the store include flowers, candles and messages written in chalkas the Jefferson Avenue store remainedclosed Monday. Tops officials have said the market will remain closed while police continue to investigate at the scene.
"He wants to go there and comfort the people who went through this violence,"White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
During remarks, Biden will call the shooting "terrorism motivated by a hateful and perverse ideology that tears at the soul of our nation," according to a White House official, and call on Americans to "give hate no safe harbor." He will also "reject the lies of racial animus that radicalize, divide us, andled to the act of racist violence we saw on Saturday," the official said.
In remarks on Sunday, Biden noted that the Justice Department is investigating the shooting as a hate crime and a "racially motivated act of white supremacy and violentextremism."
"We must all work together to address the hate that remains a stain on the soul of America," Biden said. "Our hearts are heavy once again, but our resolve must never, ever waver."
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY,and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, are expected to join Biden in Buffalo, their offices said.
Police acknowledge reports gunman considered attacking Rochester locations
On Monday, Rochester police acknowledged reports that the accused gunman who killed 10 people Saturday may have considered targets in the Rochester area before carrying out his deadly attack at a Tops Market in Buffalo.
Posts attributed to Payton Gendron's Discord account discussed potential targets for his deadly assault at locations in Rochester, several of which he mentioned by name.
Law enforcement officials acknowledged the online posts on Saturday and said they were working to confirm whether the accounts belonged to Gendron.
"We are aware of social media posts circulating online from the alleged shooter that purportedly indicate locations within the Rochester community," RPD Lt. Greg Bello said in a statement Monday. "We take these potential threats, and any other potential threat towards the safety of our community, with the utmost importance."
The online posts, which date back, more than six months, track the alleged gunman's thought process as he planned and prepared for his deadly attack. At one point, he named Rochester as a potential target and named a handful of specific locations.
They include several churches and a restaurant that are located in predominantly Black Rochester neighborhoods, as well as the names of three Rochester retail chains.
Gun shop where accused Buffalo gunman shopped temporarily closes
The gun shop where a Conklin man purchased a rifle he allegedly used to kill 10 people at a Buffalo supermarket is temporarily closed and the business is facing a scathing social media backlash.
Robert Donald, owner of Vintage Firearmsin Endicott, NY told the New York Timeshis records show he legally sold the Bushmaster semiautomatic rifle toGendron, who lived in nearby Conklin in Broome County.
The Vintage Firearms Facebook page is now filled with comments from people accusing Donald of being complicit in the Buffalo massacre because he sold the firearmGendron used.
The Bushmaster is an AR-style rifle that is typically chambered for .223-caliber rounds. Donald said the gun falls within guidelines under New York's SAFE Act, which prohibits certain "military-style" features, such as high-capacity magazines.
Law enforcement officials said Gendron illegally modified the rifle after purchasing it to increase its capacity. The gun was also inscribed with a racial epithet, they said.
A sign in front of his shop said Vintage Firearms would be closed until May 22, but it didn't indicate if that was a planned closure or if itwas prompted by Saturday's shooting.
Buffalo man chargedoverthreats; DA warns others: 'I will prosecute you'
The Tops market rampage appears to have prompted a number of threats of violence, andErie County District Attorney John Flynn wants them to stop.
A Buffalo man has been arrested and charged with issuing terrorist threats after making intimidating calls totwo businesses Sunday and referencing the previous day's shooting at the supermarket, Flynn said at a news conference Monday.
Citing Buffalo police,WIVB.com saidJoseph Chowaniec, 52, called Bocce Pizza complaining about a pizza andthreatenedto “shoot up Bocce’s like the Tops on Jefferson,” prompting the pizzeria to close. Flynn said that 45 minutes later,Chowaniec made a similar threat to a brewery.
If convicted,Chowaniec faces up to seven years in prison. He has a felony hearing scheduled for Friday and remains in custody pending a forensic examination, Flynn said.
"Let this case send a message out there to any tough guy or anyone who wants to be cute out there ...or threatening to do any harm or putting something on social media,'' Flynn said. "I will find you and I will arrest you and I will prosecute you.''
Buffalo Tops manager says she asked suspectto leave store the night before
Shonnell Harris Teague, an operations manager at Tops, toldABC Newsshe saw the suspectsitting on a bench outsidethe store for several hours Friday, the day before the shooting. He had camper bag on his back and was dressed in the same camouflage he wore Saturday, she said. He entered the store that evening, but he appeared to be bothering customers so she asked him to leave, which he did, Teague said.
The next day she was fleeing out the back door of the store as the gunmanshot people in the aisles.
"I see him with his gear on and his gun and how it was all strapped on.… I (saw) all the other bodies on the ground," she said. "It was just a nightmare."
Grady Lewis, 50, who said he is a frequent shopper at Tops, told The Wall Street Journal that he struck up a conversation with the teen that lasted nearly 90 minutes on the day before the massacre. Topics includedcritical race theory.
Lester Holt, David Muir to host newscasts in Buffalo after shooting
In addition to regional journalists flooding into Buffalo to cover the aftermath of Saturday’s mass shooting at a Tops Friendly Markets store, journalists from major television networks are on the scene or headed there.
CNN midday anchor Victor Blackwell began reporting on Sunday from outside the Tops location, where 10 people were killed and three were injured.
That evening, CBS’ anchor Jericka Duncan, who lived in Buffalo for three years while working for CBS affiliate WIVB, anchored the CBS Weekend News from near the store at 1275 Jefferson Ave., as did NBC’s Kate Snow for NBC Nightly News.
On Monday, NBC’s Lester Holt will anchor the evening newscast from the location, according to Brian Steinberg of Variety. Likewise, ABC World News Tonight anchor David Muir will host that network’s report Monday evening from Buffalo, Steinberg tweeted.
On Sunday, Syracuse native Muir delivered the commencement address at Syracuse University.
CNBC's Shepard Smith of "The News with Shepard Smith"will also be anchoring from Buffalo Monday night. Several CNBC journalists (Perry Russom and Shomari Stone) are also reporting from Buffalo as part of the broadcast.
Garth Brooks postpones Buffalo NY concert ticket sales
Country music icon Garth Brooks announced Monday that ticket sales for his upcoming show at Highmark Stadium have been postponed.
Tickets were schedule to go on sale on Friday, for the July 23 concert in Orchard Park.
"At some point, the healing in Buffalo will begin and the city will sing again," Garth Brooks said in a written statement. "But for now, we pause out of respect for what the great community of Buffalo is going through, and we stand beside all of those who are hurting and confused by such an unthinkable act."
The concert has not been postponed. A new sale date will be announced in the next few weeks.
Buffalo police release names of shooting victims
Buffalo police on Sundayreleased the identities of the 10 victims who diedin the shooting,among them a security guard hailed as a "hero" for trying to stop the gunman and a deacon who often drove shoppers home. Their ages range from 32 to 86 years old.
- Aaron Salter, 55
- Ruth Whitfield, 86
- Pearl Young, 77
- Katherine Massey, 72
- Roberta Drury, 32
- Heyward Patterson, 67
- Celestine Chaney, 65
- Margus Morrison, 52
- Andre Mackneil, 53
- Geraldine Talley, 62
The three surviving victims were identified as
- Zaire Goodman, 20
- Jennifer Warrington, 50
- Christopher Braden, 55
Police described their injuries as "non-life-threatening." Goodman and Warrington havebeen treated and released from the Erie County Medical Center, according to a statement released Sunday evening.
Why Buffalo?
Church services, prayer vigils and rallies were held throughout the day throughout the community on Sunday as people from all walks of life came to pray, share their grief while supporting one another. They also want to understand — why Buffalo?
The neighborhood is a close-knit community, said Michael Ray of Buffalo, who lives about a mile from the Jefferson Avenue Tops where he is also a customer. People know one another, and look out for each other, like family.
"We're all intertwined," Ray said at a Sunday morning vigil outside the store. "That's what makes this so hurtful, honestly. This is not just a shopping center but it's an area where a lot of people knew each other and a lot of people are close to each other."
While itmaytake time for residents to heal, he said, "we need to give ourselves hope."
"We have to learn how to heal and how to love instead of how to hate from this," Ray said. "Try to be better for ourselves and try to fix this scar in our city."
President Biden to visit Buffalo after mass shooting
White House officials announced that President Joe Biden and first ladyJill Biden will travel to Buffalo on Tuesdayto grieve with the community. Details of his itinerary were not released.
Bidentold reporters earlier in the day that he had spoken to Gov. Kathy Hochul, and thathe and his wife were praying for the victims and their families.
"We grieve for the families of ten people whose lives were senselessly taken and everyone who is suffering the physical and emotional wounds of this horrific shooting,"the President said in a statement. "Weare grateful for the bravery of members of law enforcement and other first responders who took immediate action to try to protect and save lives."
Biden said that the country must do everything in its power toendhate-fueled domestic terrorism.
"We still need to learn more about the motivation for [the] shooting as law enforcement does its work, but we don’t need anything else to state a clear moral truth: A racially motivated hate crime is abhorrent to the very fabric of this nation," Biden said. "Any act of domestic terrorism, including an act perpetrated in the name of a repugnant white nationalist ideology, is antithetical to everything we stand for in America. Hate must have no safe harbor."
FBI investigates 180-page document
Federal agents interviewed Payton Gendron's parents and wereworking to confirm the authenticity of a 180-page statement of beliefthat was posted online, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press on Sunday.
The document detailed the plot and identified Gendron by name as the gunman, said the official, who is not authorized to publiclydiscuss details of the investigation and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity. The document espoused the beliefthat the U.S. belongs only towhite people and all others should be eradicated by force or terror, which was the purpose of the attack.
The official said Gendron repeatedly visited websites promoting white supremacist ideologies and race-based conspiracy theories.
What happened in Buffalo on Saturday
An 18-year-old man wearing tactical gear opened fire in a busysupermarket in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo on Saturday afternoon, killing 10 people and injuring three others in the country's latest high-profile crime apparently motivated by hate, authorities say.
Officials said the suspected gunman, Payton Gendronof Broome County,traveled from the Southern Tier to carry out the attack, which he livestreamed on social media.
Eleven of the 13 people who were shot were Black, Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramagliasaid at a Saturday news conference.
The mass shooting occurred around 2:30 p.m. at the Tops Friendly Markets store at 1275 Jefferson Ave. in Buffalo when a manarmedwithan assault-style rifleshot more than a dozen people at the store in a matter of minutes.
He shot four people in the parking lot, three of whom died at the scene, before he entered the store. Aretired Buffalo police officer working in the store as a security guard confronted theshooter and shot him. Thosebullets struck the attacker's tactical vest, preventing injury,Gramaglia said. The gunman returned fire and fatally shot the guard. He worked his way through the store and ultimately surrendered to police.
