BUFFALONEW YORK (AP) — A white gunman killed 10 black shoppers and workers Buffalo The supermarket man pleaded guilty on Monday to murder and hate terrorism, ensuring he will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Peyton Gendron19, entered Monday at the courthouse about two miles from the grocery store, where he used a semi-automatic rifle and body armor for the racist attack he He hoped that it would help preserve white power in the United States
He pleaded guilty to all charges in the grand jury indictment, including murder, hate crime murder, and domestic hate terrorism, which carries an automatic life sentence without parole. Gendron also pleaded guilty to wounding three survivors in May.
The plea comes at a time when many Americans are almost desensitized to mass shootings. In recent weeks, there have been deadly attacks at a Walmart in Virginia, a gay club in Colorado and the University of Virginia.
Just a few days after Gendron’s attack in BuffaloA gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at a school in Uvalde, Texas.
Gendron previously pleaded not guilty to certain federal hate crimes that could have carried the death penalty if he convicted. The US Department of Justice has not said whether it will seek the death penalty.
Gendron used a legally purchased AR-15 style rifle him attack on Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo. Wear a bulletproof vest, he Live streaming from the helmet camera as he store employees and customers were shot.
The dead were aged between 32 and 86, including a church deacon, the mother of the former Buffalo a fire commissioner and an armed security guard who died trying to protect customers.
White supremacy was Gendron’s motive. He said documents posted online just before the attack heI chose a store about three hours away him house in Conklin, New York because it was in a predominantly black neighborhood.
He said he was motivated by a belief in a massive conspiracy to weaken the power of white people by “replacing” them in the US with people of color.
Gendron surrendered after a confrontation with the police him how he left the store.
Since then, victims’ relatives have called on Congress to address white supremacy and gun violence through legislation.
