Buffalo Shooting Suspect Made ‘Generalized Threat’ At School Last Year, Police Say

Topline

An 18-year-old man accused of killing 10 people in a racially motivated shooting Saturday in Buffalo drew police attention last year after making a threatening statement at his high school, and was given a mental health evaluation at the time, Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said at a Sunday press conference.

Key Facts

Payton S. Gendron of Conklin, New York, was arrested yesterday and charged with shooting 13 people—10 fatally—at a Tops Friendly Market store, in what FBI Special Agent Steve Belongia described as a hate crime perpetrated by a racist extremist.

Gendron allegedly visited Buffalo on Friday to do reconnaissance in what was apparently the first time he had visited the city, which is 168 miles from Conklin, Gramaglia said.

Gendron was not on law enforcement’s radar at the time of the shooting, but he was brought in by police for a mental health evaluation after making a “generalized threat” at his high school in June, Gramaglia said.

Gramaglia said the 2021 threat was not racist and not directed at a particular place or person, but the Associated Press reported that Grendon had threatened to commit a shooting at Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna High School around graduation, citing an unnamed law enforcement official.

Gendron was put on suicide watch after his arrest and is under constant direct observation because, following the shooting, he allegedly placed his rifle under his chin, Erie County Sheriff John Garcia said at Sunday’s press conference.

Though “absolutely distraught and devastated,” Gendron’s parents were cooperative during questioning by FBI and state police, Gramaglia said.

Key Background

Most of the victims of Saturday’s shooting were Black, and the attack appeared to be racially motivated, law enforcement officials said. A 180-page manifesto attributed to Gendron claimed the shooting was carried out to generate an “atmosphere of fear and change” in which a white supremacist revolution might take place, and includes endorsements of numerous racist and antisemitic conspiracy theories propagated on a 4chan imageboard. Gendron is accused of carrying out the attack while wearing a protective vest and armed with an assault rifle and handguns. Though Gramaglia chose not to disclose details of how Gendron allegedly purchased the AR-15-style rifle used in the shooting, an Ellicottville, New York, gun shop owner told the New York Times he had sold Gendron the firearm legally “in recent months.” The shooting was streamed live on Twitch, though the Amazon-owned platform told CNN the stream was removed less than two minutes after violence began.

What To Watch For

Gendron pleaded not guilty to murder in the first degree, and could face life imprisonment without parole if convicted.

Tangent

Arizona state Sen. Wendy Rogers (R), a member of the far-right group the Oath Keepers, appeared to endorse an unevidenced conspiracy theory that the Buffalo shooting was a government operation. Rogers wrote Saturday on the right-leaning social media platform Gettr that “Fed boy summer has started in Buffalo.” Rogers’ post—a play on the title of a Chet Hanks song—alluded to the conspiracy theory that government agents, or “feds,” secretly orchestrate mass shootings to create support for gun control laws or to distract from other issues.

Further Reading

“10 Shot Dead At Supermarket In Buffalo, N.Y.—FBI Probing As Hate Crime” (Forbes)