A 19-year-old teenager, Payton Gendron, was sentenced to life in prison by a US court on Wednesday for killing 10 Black people during a live-streamed shooting rampage at a supermarket in New York state in 2022.
On May 14, he drove from his hometown of Conklin, more than 200 miles (322 kilometers) away, with the intention of killing as many Black people as possible, prosecutors said.
Payton Gendron had pleaded guilty to a state charge of domestic terrorism motivated by hate over the massacre in Buffalo in May, which carries a mandatory penalty of life without parole.
The convicted teen, who told the court he was “very sorry” for his actions, still faces dozens of federal hate crime charges that could see him receive the death penalty.
“There can be no mercy for you, no understanding, no second chances. The damage you have caused is too great,” Erie County Court judge Susan Eagan told Gendron, handing down the life term.
Gendron, wearing an orange jumpsuit and glasses, had to be escorted out of the courtroom when an audience member rushed at him during emotional statements by relatives of victims.
He planned the attack for months, targeting Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo because of the surrounding neighborhood’s large African-American population.
Credit: AFP
