Buffalo supermarket mass shooter faces death penalty as sentencing nears

The Department of Justice will seek the death penalty for Buffalo supermarket mass shooter Payton Gendron who was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree murder and domestic terrorism charges earlier this year.

Gendron killed 10 people in a racially motivated massacre in Buffalo, New York in 2022. He pleaded guilty to all 15 counts brought by Buffalo prosecutors. The shooting took place at Tops Friendly Markets in a predominantly black area of the city. Out of the 10 people killed, eight were black. Three other people were wounded in Gendron's attack.

In a court filing on Friday, the Department of Justice said that the "United States believes the circumstances in Counts 11-20 of the Indictment are such that, in the event of a conviction, a sentence of death is justified," according to ABC News.

Federal prosecutors argued their reason for seeking the death penalty stating in the court filing, "Gendron intentionally killed Roberta Drury, Pearl Young, Hayward Patterson, Ruth Whitfield, Celestine Chaney, Aaron W Salter Jr., Andre Mackniel, Marcus Morrison, Katherine Massey and Geraldine Talley."

Gendron's deliberate infliction of physical harm, his deliberate involvement in an act that resulted in death, and the obvious racism connected to the shooting were all mentioned by the Justice Department as reasons for the death penalty.

"Payton Gendron expressed bias, hatred, and contempt toward Black persons and his animus toward Black persons played a role," the filing said.

Gendron did not show up to the court hearing on Friday when federal prosecutor Joe Tripi notified Judge Lawrence Vilardo of the government's intent to seek the death penalty, according to the network.

"There's going to come a point in the relatively near future when he's going to need to be here," said Vilardo to the federal defense team who waived Gendron's appearance.
 

The next court hearing is on Feb. 2.