Police say gunman targeted Black neighborhood in weekend shooting

Police say gunman targeted Black neighborhood in weekend shooting

Police say gunman targeted Black neighborhood in weekend shooting

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By the Associated Press:

The white 18-year-old who fatally shot 10 people at a Buffalo, New York supermarket researched the local demographics and arrived a day in advance to conduct reconnaissance with the intent of killing as many Black people as possible, officials said Sunday.

The racially motivated attack came a year after the gunman was taken to a hospital by State Police after making threats involving his high school, according to authorities.

He wasn’t charged with a crime and was out of the hospital within a day and a half, police said, but the revelation raised questions about his access to weapons and whether he could have been under closer supervision by law enforcement.

The Buffalo attack prompted grief and anger in the predominantly Black neighborhood around Tops Friendly Market. A group of people gathered there Sunday afternoon to lead chants of “Black lives matter” and mourn victims that included an 86-year-old woman who had just visited her husband in a nursing home and a supermarket security guard, both of whom were Black.

“Somebody filled his heart so full of hate that he would destroy and devastate our community,” the Rev. Denise Walden-Glenn said.

Speaking at the National Peace Officers’ Memorial service at the U.S. Capitol, President Joe Biden said,  “We must all work together to address the hate that remains a stain on the soul of America.” The White House later announced that the president and first lady would travel to Buffalo on Tuesday to “grieve with the community.”

 

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