Prosecutors to seek death penalty in Buffalo supermarket shooting

Federal prosecutors in New York said Friday that they will seek the death penalty in the case of the mass shooter who killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket in 2022.

Payton Gendron is serving life in prison after he pleaded guilty to state murder and domestic terror charges for the crime last year. The federal case is centered on hate crime charges, with prosecutors alleging the gunman specifically targeted Black people in the shooting.

Gendron previously pledged to plead guilty in the federal hate crime case if prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty.

Prosecutor Trini Ross alleged he selected the Buffalo supermarket to “maximize the number of Black victims.” 

Police said Gendron, who was 18 at the time of the shooting, was motivated by racist hate. He published a manifesto at the time of the attack, which included endorsing the “great replacement” white supremacist conspiracy theory.

Gendron also said he was inspired by previous racially motivated mass shooter Dylann Roof, who killed nine people at a Black church in South Carolina, and the Christchurch, New Zealand, mass shooter who targeted Muslims.

He traveled more than 200 miles from his home in rural Conklin, N.Y., to Buffalo for the shooting, choosing the supermarket because it is in a predominately Black neighborhood, prosecutors said.

Federal death penalty cases are generally rare. The case marks the first time Attorney General Merrick Garland has authorized pursuing the death penalty in a new case.

Garland’s Department of Justice has only pursued capital punishment twice, continuing previous cases against the Pittsburgh synagogue mass shooter and the suspect in a spree of New York City bike path killings.

Families of victims have previously shared mixed sentiments on whether Gendron should be put to death.

One family member, Mark Talley, told The Associated Press he was split.

“I’m not necessarily disappointed in the decision. … It would have satisfied me more knowing he would have spent the rest of his life in prison being surrounded by the population of people he tried to kill,” Talley said.

“I would prefer he spend the rest of his life in prison suffering every day,” he added.

The Associated Press contributed.