The gunman who killed 10 people and wounded three in a racist attack at a grocery store in a predominantly Black neighborhood of Buffalo, New York, pleaded guilty Monday to state charges of domestic terrorism as a hate crime, murder and attempted murder, CNN reported.
Payton Gendron, a 19-year-old White man, 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 in the mass shooting at Tops Friendly Markets on May 14.
The charges come with a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the chance of parole.
Gendron answered “yes” or “no” to several questions affirming he understood why he was pleading guilty and, on the individual counts, said the word “guilty.” He showed no emotion during the hearing.
Erie County District Attorney John Flynn described the attack as a racist hate crime and outlined the timeline of the mass killing.
“In just over two minutes the defendant, with the intent to murder as many African Americans as he could, killed 10 innocent Black people and attempted to kill three others,” Flynn said in a news conference after the hearing.
Flynn said he got a letter from the defense a few weeks ago saying the defendant was willing to plead guilty.
Prior to the shooting, Gendron uploaded a manifesto to the internet, warning of “white genocide”, citing low birthrates among people of European heritage across the globe, and higher birthrates among non-white populations.
A document posted online by the suspect detailed his initial plans weeks before the shooting.
According to the document, obtained by the Washington Post, Gendron refers to the local Tops supermarket as “attack area 1,” also noting two other areas in the city where he can “shoot all blacks.”
Gendron also faces multiple federal hate crime charges, which carry the potential for the death penalty, in addition to several firearms charges. He has pleaded not guilty to the federal charges.