Courtroom chaos during the sentencing of Payton Gendron. A relative of the victim lunged at Gendron. (Twitter screenshot)
On May 14, 2022, a 19-year-old white man named Payton Gendron killed 10 people at a Buffalo supermarket in an anti-Black racist attack. On Feb. 14 he was in court for sentencing. During the sentencing hearing, victims’ family members were allowed to make statements. While one woman was making a statement, a man rushed at the mass shooter.
The man, a relative of one of the victims, ran at the gunman but was quickly blocked by courthouse security. The gunman was whisked out of the courtroom.
The incident came during a victim impact statement from Barbara Massey, the sister of Katherine Massey, a 72-year-old who was killed in the attack. Five other people had already given statements about their loved ones.
After a short break, Gendron was brought back into the courtroom and Erie County Court Judge Susan Eagan restarted the hearing.
“I am sure you all are disturbed by the physicality we’ve seen today. I understand the emotion, and I understand the anger, but we cannot have that in the courtroom,” Eagan said.
In November 2022, Gendron pleaded guilty to one count of domestic act of terrorism motivated by hate, 10 counts of first-degree murder, three counts of attempted murder, and a weapons possession charge for the mass shooting at Tops Friendly Markets on May 14, 2022, CNN reported.
Gendron is expected to be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
Gendron shot a total of 13 people, including 11 Black people and two white people. All the victims killed were Black, authorities said. During the supermarket attack, Gendron was wearing body armor and camouflage gear and armed with an assault weapon. He live-streamed his attack on the social media platform Twitch.
Gendron posted on social media that he selected the Tops supermarket as his target because it’s located in the 14208 ZIP code in Buffalo, which had the highest percentage of Black people close enough to where he lived in Conklin, New York, ABC News reported.
Courtroom chaos during the sentencing of Payton Gendron. A relative of the victim lunged at Gendron. (Twitter screenshot, https://twitter.com/Phil_Lewis_/status/1625885025966166026?s=20&t=szAcxBfIGi0pdgVWbXSHnw)
