© Reuters. Cops safe the scene after a capturing at TOPS grocery store in Buffalo, New York, U.S. Could 14, 2022. REUTERS/Jeffrey T. Barnes REFILE – CORRECTING DATE
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By Steve Gorman and Moira Warburton
(Reuters) -An 18-year-old white gunman shot 10 individuals to dying and wounded three others at a grocery retailer in a Black neighborhood of Buffalo, New York, earlier than surrendering to authorities, who known as it a hate crime and an act of “racially motivated violent extremism.”
Authorities mentioned the suspect, who was armed with an assault-style rifle and appeared to have acted alone, drove to Buffalo from his dwelling in a New York county “hours away” to focus on the shop in an assault he broadcast on the web. Eleven of the 13 individuals struck by gunfire have been Black, officers mentioned.
The suspect, who was not instantly named by police, was closely armed and wearing tactical gear, together with physique armor, police mentioned.
When confronted by officers in a vestibule of the shop, the suspect held a gun to his personal neck however they talked him into dropping the weapon and surrendering, Buffalo police commissioner Joseph Gramaglia advised a information briefing.
Gramaglia mentioned the gunman shot and killed three individuals within the car parking zone of the Tops Pleasant Market earlier than exchanging fireplace with a former police officer working as a safety guard for the shop, however the suspect was protected by his physique armor.
The guard was one of many 10 individuals shot to dying within the incident, the 9 others all being prospects. Three different staff of the shop, a part of a regional chain, have been wounded however are anticipated to outlive, authorities mentioned.
Stephen Belongia, the FBI particular agent in control of the bureau’s Buffalo area workplace, mentioned the assault could be investigated each as a hate crime and as an act of “racially motivated violent extremism” beneath federal regulation.
“This individual was pure evil,” Erie County Sheriff John Garcia mentioned, his voice quaking with emotion. “It was a straight-up racially motivated hate crime from someone exterior of our neighborhood.”
The suspect was anticipated to make his first court docket look to face homicide prices by day’s finish, officers mentioned.
“This can be a day of nice ache for our neighborhood,” Buffalo Mayor Bryon Brown advised reporters. “Many people have been out and in of this grocery store many occasions. … We can not let this hateful individual divide our neighborhood or our nation.”
Brown mentioned he had acquired calls from the White Home and New York’s legal professional normal, Letitia James.
U.S. Consultant Jerry Nadler, a New York Democrat and chairman of the Home Judiciary Committee, mentioned the assault gave the impression to be the work of a violent white supremacist.
“We should cross the Home Terrorism Prevention Act, directly,” he wrote on Twitter (NYSE:).
