According to an official familiar with the investigation, the alleged gunman in the Buffalo mass shooting made very disturbing statements describing his motives and mental state after being shot. catch.
The official told CNN that the statements made after the arrest were clear and filled with hatred towards the Black community. According to the official, the alleged shooter revealed he was targeting the Black community in statements.
Investigators discovered other information from search warrants and other methods that showed the alleged shooter had “researched” prior hate attacks and shootings.
Investigators previously said they were looking into a purported manifesto posted online regarding the mass shooting.
“The evidence that we have discovered so far is not misleading that this is an absolute racist hate crime. It will be prosecuted as a hate crime,” said Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph. Gramaglia said Sunday. “This is a person with hatred in their heart, soul and mind.”
The suspect surveyed the area: Suspected shooter, Payton Gendron, 18 years old, surveyed both the community and the grocery store as part of his attack plan, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown told CNN.
Brown told CNN: “It looks like he’s been here a few days after the reports I’ve been hearing about and he’s been surveying this community, scouting the supermarket, actually talking to some of the people in the community. area”.
Investigators believe the suspect researched the area and “targeted the place that was most crowded during one of the busiest times,” New York Governor Hochul also told CNN.
“This was targeted by zip codes,” Hochul said. “This is the highest concentration of African-Americans within hours.”
That account matched a line in an apparent manifesto posted online in which an author calling himself Gendron said, “Zip code 14208 in Buffalo has the highest percentage of blacks, close enough to where I live. .”
Some basic information: The zip code that includes the store, 14208, is 78% Black, according to the Census Bureau’s 2020 American Community Survey. It ranks among the top 2% of zip codes nationally with the highest percentage of Blacks and has the highest percentage of Blacks of any zip code in upstate New York. Meanwhile, 13748, the zip code covering Gendron’s hometown, Conklin, is 89% White and 0.4% Black.
CNN’s Polo Sandoval, Sarah Jorgenson and Casey Tolan contributed to this report.
