A 19-year-old boy, who murdered at least 10 Black people at a supermarket in New York last year and live-streamed the massacre, was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday.
By India Today Web Desk: A 19-year-old boy, who murdered at least 10 Black people at a supermarket in New York last year and live-streamed the massacre, was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday.
The accused has been identified as 19-year-old Payton Gendron. (Photo: Yahoo)
THE MASSACRE
On May 14 last year, Payton Gendron, then aged 18, drove from his hometown of Conklin, more than 200 miles (322 kilometers) away, with the intention of killing as many Black people as possible.
Prosecutors said Gendron had planned the attack for months, targeting Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo, which was frequented by a large number of African-Americans living in the surrounding neighborhoods.
On the fateful day, he shot four people in the parking lot with his AR-15 assault rifle before entering the grocery store.
Aaron Salter, a retired police officer who worked as a security guard at the supermarket, fired several shots at Gendron before being shot and killed, said police.
What saved Gendron from Salter’s shots was his heavy body armour. He also wore a helmet with a video camera attached and live-streamed the two-minute attack on the platform Twitch.
The victims were aged between 32 and 86. Eleven of the 13 people shot were Black and two were white.
THE MOTIVE
Within hours of the attack, police arrested Gendron and investigators found a 180-page document on his computer laying out his racist motivations for the massacre.
He had made references to the “great replacement,” a far-right conspiracy theory that claims people of color are being brought into the US to replace white Americans.
Gendron admitted all charges against him in November, including 10 counts of murder in the first degree, three attempted murder charges and one count of criminal possession of a weapon.
During the hearing of the case on Wednesday, Gendron admitted to having “acted out of hate”. He pinned blame on the content he read online and said he didn’t want “anyone to be inspired by what I did.”
Pleading guilty to a state charge of domestic terrorism motivated by hate, which carries a mandatory penalty of life without parole, the teen said, “I did a terrible thing that day. I shot and killed people because they were Black. Looking back now, I can’t believe I actually did it.”
Gendron is the first person in New York to be convicted of the state’s domestic terrorism charge, which was introduced in 2020.
The convicted teen, who told the court he was “very sorry” for his actions, still faces dozens of federal hate crime charges that could see him receive the death penalty.
While hearing the case on Wednesday, Erie County Court judge Susan Eagan called white supremacy “an insidious cancer” in American society.
Handing down the life term to Gendron, the judge said, “There can be no mercy for you, no understanding, no second chances. The damage you have caused is too great.”
EMOTIONS RUN HIGH AS FAMILY MEMBERS REMEMBER VICTIMS
Gendron had to be escorted out of the courtroom when an audience member rushed towards him during emotional statements made by relatives of victims and tried to lunge at him.
The man was restrained and the hearing resumed several minutes later.
“I understand the emotion and I understand the anger but we cannot have that in the courtroom,” said Eagan.
Simone Crawley, the granddaughter of 86-year-old victim Ruth Whitfield, called Gendron “a cowardly racist.”
Kimberly Salter, the widow of Salter, said her family was wearing “red for the blood that he shed for his family and for his community, and Black. We are still grieving.”
(Inputs from AFP)
Source: indiatoday.in
