Buffalo supermarket shooter pleads not guilty to 27 federal charges News
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Buffalo supermarket shooter pleads not guilty to 27 federal charges

Payton Gendron Monday pled not guilty to 27 federal charges he faces for carrying out a mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, Tops supermarket.

Gendron was indicted last Thursday in the US District Court for the Western District of New York. Gendron faces ten counts of a “hate crime act resulting in death,” ten counts of the “discharge of a firearm to commit murder,” four counts of a “hate crime act involving an attempt to kill” and two counts of the “use and discharge of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.”

The indictment also includes special findings that allege Gendron premeditated the mass shooting and planned to commit an act of terrorism. Gendron faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment or the death penalty, and will be required to surrender all of his guns and ammunition if he is convicted.

Gendron was originally charged on June 15 for the live-streamed May 14 shooting. The attack resulted in the deaths of ten Black victims, and one Black and two Caucasian victims suffered non-fatal gunshot wounds. The shooter was allegedly motivated by a desire to prevent Black people from “replacing white people” and wanted to “inspire others to commit similar attacks.”

Gendron also pled not guilty to 25 New York state charges which include domestic terrorism.

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