The white supremacist who fatally shot 10 people at a Buffalo supermarket could be sentenced to death for the 2022 racially motivated shooting, federal prosecutors said Friday.
Payton Gendron, 20, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole last February after pleading guilty to state charges in connection with the May 14, 2022, mass shooting at Tops Friendly Markets.
He is still facing federal charges for the grisly rampage, in which three people survived. Defense lawyers for Gendron have previously noted that he would consider pleading guilty to the federal charges to take the death penalty off the table.
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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,” prosecutors said in a Friday filing in Buffalo federal court.
The filing also listed several factors to justify the death penalty sentence, including that Gendron was 18 at the time of the shooting, the shooting was intentional, he caused serious bodily injury, and he was motivated by racial bias and hatred.
Prosecutors say that before the shooting, Gendron posted a manifesto online that laid out his desire to eliminate Black people and preserve a white nation. He also said he selected the Tops in Buffalo, a three-hour drive from his home, because the neighborhood was predominantly Black. Gendron also went to the supermarket before the shooting to stake out the location and make sure there were a sufficient number of Black customers.
During the massacre, which he livestreamed on the internet, Gendron wore body armor and a tactical helmet, then opened fire using a semi-automatic rifle decorated with bigoted messages and symbols.
