Buffalo supermarket gunman pleads guilty to domestic terrorism charges

Payton Gendron who killed 10 people at a supermarket in Buffalo has pleaded guilty to state charges including murder and domestic terrorism motivated by hate.

Gendron, 19, killed 10 black people during the attack in May.

In June, he was indicted by a grand jury on 25 counts including murder and domestic terrorism motivated by hate. The latter charge carries a penalty of life imprisonment without parole.

Gendron pleaded guilty to 15 of the 25 counts, including 10 counts of first-degree murder. Those ten counts then automatically dismissed the 10 second-degree murder charges. He also pleaded guilty to three counts of attempted murder in the second degree as a hate crime, one count of criminal possession of a weapon, as well as the domestic terrorism motivated by hate charge.

In a news conference after the hearing, John J. Flynn, the Erie County district attorney, said: “Justice has been done today.”

“Hopefully the legal closure will help the healing process.”

He also noted that Gendron was the first person to have pleaded guilty to domestic terrorism motivated by hate in New York.

Gendron also faces federal hate crimes and weapons violations. Some of the federal charges could carry the death penalty.

Image: Wikimedia Commons / Codera23