The white teen accused of gunning down 10 people in the hate-fueled supermarket massacre in Buffalo had plans to continue his shooting rampage and find “more black people” to kill, police said Monday.
Payton Gendron, 18, was taken into custody minutes after he allegedly livestreamed himself opening fire at the Tops Friendly Market on Saturday afternoon.
“We have uncovered information that if he escaped the supermarket, he had plans to continue his attack,” Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia told ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
“It appeared that his plans were to drive out of here and continue driving down Jefferson Avenue looking to shoot more black people as he could and possibly go to another store location.”
Gendron, who was heavily armed and wearing tactical gear, had driven about 200 miles from his family’s home in Conklin, NY, to carry out the racially motivated attack in the predominantly black neighborhood, police said.
In addition to the 10 people killed, three were wounded. Eleven of the victims were black and two were white.
The police commissioner wouldn’t disclose exactly what evidence indicated Gendron had allegedly wanted to continue his bloody rampage but said investigators had been trawling his phone and other electronic devices.
More coverage on the Buffalo supermarket shooting
The teen had previously posted a rambling, 180-page white supremacist manifesto online that spewed a racist philosophy and outlined his exact plans for the massacre, law enforcement sources have said.
In the manifesto, he detailed how he allegedly wanted to continue his rampage through the neighborhood. He allegedly ended up carrying out his supermarket attack at 3 p.m. instead of the planned 4 p.m. as detailed in the document.
Gendron wrote that the US should only belong to white people and all others were “replacers” who should be eliminated by force or terror. His alleged sick attack was intended to intimidate all non-white, non-Christian people and get them to leave the country, according to the document.
The FBI has said it is investigating the tragedy as both a hate crime and a case of racially motivated violent extremism.
Gendron was arraigned in Buffalo City Court on one count of murder in the first degree just hours after the deadly attack.
