BUFALO, New York (AP) – An 18-year-old white man accused of fatally shooting 10 blacks at a Buffalo supermarket was charged Wednesday by a grand jury in domestic terrorism motivated by hatred and 10 counts of first-degree murder.
Peyton Hendron, who is in custody after the May 14 shooting, is due to stand trial in Erie County Court on Thursday.
The 25-count indictment also contains charges of murder and attempted murder as a hate crime and possession of a weapon.
Hendron had previously been charged with first-degree murder in a shooting that also injured three people. He pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors told a judge on May 20 that the grand jury had voted to indict Hendron, but did not disclose the allegations, saying proceedings were ongoing.
The indictment for internal terrorism accuses Hendron of killing “because of the perceived race and / or color” of his victims.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed the Domestic Terrorism Act for Hate Crimes in August 2019 after a mass shooting of Mexicans at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas. The measure, called the “Internal Terrorism Act for Joseph Neumann’s Hate Crimes” following an attack on a rabbi’s home in Muncie, New York, was signed on April 3, 2020 and entered into force on November 1, 2020.
The charge, Domestic Terrorist Acts Motivated by First-Instance Hate, is punishable by life imprisonment without parole.
Charges have been filed against each of the victims, ranging in age from 32 to 86, including eight shoppers, a store security guard and a church deacon who drives shoppers to and from the grocery store.
The gunman, who was carrying an AR-15-style rifle he had recently bought, opened fire on a shop on Saturday afternoon at the only supermarket in the predominantly black neighborhood.
The shooting, followed 10 days later by a mass shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uwalde, Texas, has revived the national debate on gun control and violent extremism.
Federal authorities are also investigating the possibility of accusing Hendron of hate crimes, who apparently described in detail his plans and racist motivations in hundreds of pages of writings he published online shortly before the shooting. The attack was broadcast live by a camera mounted on a helmet.
Hendron was driving about three hours from his home in Conklin, New York, intending to kill as many black people as possible, investigators said.
His lawyer, Brian Parker, said he had not seen the indictment and could not comment, adding that the prosecution and defense counsel’s lawyers were barred by a judge from discussing the case in public.
___
Associated Press writer Michael Sisak contributed from New York.
Add Comment