Payton Gendron, who shot and killed ten black people last May, in court in Buffalo on February 15, 2023.
Buffalo – The shooter from American Buffalo, 19-year-old Payton Gendron, was sentenced today to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Gendron already confessed in the fall that he shot ten black people and injured three others in May of last year. He was convicted, among other things, of multiple murder, terrorism motivated by hatred and 13 other crimes, the American media write.
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The court in Buffalo was supposed to sentence the shooter before 17:00 CET, but before the verdict was read, someone from the audience in the courtroom ran towards Gendron and was stopped by a policeman. Both Gendron and the person in question were then taken out of the hall. Someone “started” at the shooter in court when one of the survivors, Barbara Mappsová, blamed him for killing her 72-year-old sister. “You don't know what we're going through!” a man shouted at the condemned man while he was being led out of the hall by the police, writes the AP agency.
“I understand the emotions, I understand the anger. But we can't give them an outlet in the courtroom,” responded Judge Susan Eagan, who adjourned the trial for a short time. bulletproof vest and helmet, which he equipped with a live camera. He chose Tops Friendly Market as the target of the attack, in what he said was the largest African-American neighborhood in Buffalo. He also described himself as a fascist and anti-Semite with a belief in the superiority of the white race, writes the CNN website.
He killed the people in the store with a semi-automatic rifle that he owned legally but modified to use a larger type of magazine that is illegal in New York state. Only three people remained alive after the shooting. Gendron shot a total of 13 people, ten of whom died, all black. The victims ranged in age from 32 to 86.
In addition to Mapps, there were other survivors in court today. “We're wearing red and black. Red for the blood of our family and community that he spilled, and black because we're still grieving,” said Kimberly Salter, the widow of Aaron Salter, the store security guard who was shot. As Salter spoke, Gendron looked directly at her from the defense position, AP describes.
Mass shootings, which are carried out by their perpetrators for various motivations, are an almost daily occurrence in the United States. In his speech on Tuesday, US President Joe Biden again called on Congress to pass a ban on assault rifles with high-capacity magazines. The right to bear arms is enshrined in the United States Constitution, and the debate over carrying and selling guns is a sensitive political issue in the US.
