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The white supremacist who killed 10 black men in a Buffalo supermarket was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday, after earlier being thrown out of the courtroom during a stampede.
Payton Gendron’s conviction in the attack, which was fueled by a racist conspiracy theory he encountered online, was resumed after the disturbance, which occurred when Barbara Massey Mapps accused him of killing his sister, Katherine Massey, 72.
As Mapps yelled and pointed at Gendron, someone in the courtroom took a few steps toward him before being taken back into custody.
“You don’t know what we’re going to do,” shouted a man as he was led away by a court officer. For a few minutes after that, the family members hugged and calmed each other.
Judge Susan Eagan ordered Gendron to return and let him continue after about 10 minutes, reminding everyone to “do the right thing.”
“I understand the emotion, and I understand the anger, but it can’t be in a courtroom,” he said.
Gendron pleaded guilty in November to charges including murder and domestic terrorism motivated by hate. Terrorism charges carry an automatic life sentence.
Eagan called it a moment “that counts for our nation.”
“The ugly truth is that our nation was founded and built on white supremacy,” he said, citing the treatment of Native communities, Jim Crow laws and real estate practices in communities of color.
But, Eagan says, white supremacy is “inevitable or unavoidable.”
“We must make the outpouring of love and compassion that follows this evil act a daily practice,” he said.
Shop worker ‘haunted’ by trauma
The sentencing is a chance for loved ones of the dead, as well as those injured in the attack last spring, to release their loss, grief and anger.
Some, like Massey Mapps, angrily condemned Gendron; others quote from the Bible or say that they pray. Some condemned him for his deliberate attack on the Black community far from his almost all-white hometown.
“You have been brainwashed,” Wayne Jones Sr., the only child of the victim Celestine Chaney, said as sobs rose from the audience. “You don’t even know black people who hate people. You learn this on the internet, and it’s a big mistake.”
“I hope you find it in your heart to apologize to these people, man. You did wrong for no reason,” Jones said.
Christopher Braden, a Tops Friendly Market employee who was shot in the leg, said he saw where the victims were lying when they were taken out of the store.
“That vision haunts me in my sleep and every day,” he said.
Gendron, now 19, was wearing bulletproof armor and a helmet equipped with a livestreaming camera when he carried out the May 14 attack. He killed his victims with a semiautomatic rifle, purchased legally but later modified to hold high-capacity ammunition magazines that were illegal in New York.
There were only three survivors after 13 people were shot, specifically looking for black shoppers and workers.
The federal case is still pending
The victims at the Tops market included a church deacon, a storekeeper, an environmental activist, a birthday cake buyer, a grandmother of nine and the mother of a former Buffalo fire commissioner. The victims range in age from 32 to 86 years old.
In a document posted online, Gendron said he hoped the attack would help preserve white power in the US. neighborhood.
Given the meticulous plan, Eagan denied Gendron’s juvenile offender status, which could have given him a chance to re-enter society.
“There was nothing rash or thoughtless about your actions. There were no mitigating factors to consider,” Eagan said.
While a life sentence is guaranteed for Gendron, he also faces a separate federal charge that could carry the death penalty if the U.S. Department of Justice chooses to pursue it.
The mass shooting in Buffalo, and another less than two weeks later that killed 19 students and two teachers in a Texas primary school, raised calls for strong gun control, including from the victims’ relatives who traveled to Washington, DC, to testify before lawmakers.
New York legislature quickly passed a law banning the sale of semiautomatic rifles to most people under the age of 21. The state also banned the sale of some types of body armor.
US President Joe Biden signed a compromise gun violence bill in June that was intended to tighten background checks, keep firearms from more domestic violence offenders and help states enact red flag laws to make it easier for authorities to seize guns from people they deem dangerous. . This is the most important federal gun control legislation in years.
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