Buffalo mass shooting latest: Biden to visit grieving community as suspect Payton Gendron’s family blames Covid paranoia

The 10 individuals killed by a white supremacist during a mass shooting at a Tops grocery store in Buffalo have been identified, including Andre Mackniel, who was picking up a cake for his grandson’s birthday.

Mr Mackneil had traveled 120 miles from his home to be present for his grandson’s birthday when he was targeted by a white supremacist mass shooter at the grocery store.

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The Arizona Senate on Monday opened an ethics investigation into a Republican member who tweeted inflammatory comments about last weekend’s racist attack at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket that left 10 people dead.

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Family of the Buffalo supermarket gunman has said that the teen snapped because of the “paranoia and isolation” of the Covid pandemic.

In an interview with the new york post, relatives confessed that they had no idea that 18-year-old Payton Gendron was an alleged white supremacist. They also said that the teen needed help after threatening his classmates almost a year ago.

“I have no idea how he could have gotten caught up in this. I blame it on Covid,” Sandra Komoroff, 68, a cousin of Mr Gendron’s mom Pamela was quoted as saying.

“He was very paranoid about getting Covid, extremely paranoid, to the point that — his friends were saying — he would wear the hazmat suit [to school],” she said.

She added that Mr Gendron had “bought into the fear of Covid.”

ICYMI: During my research, I found that the underlying feelings drawing people to extreme movements were similar, regardless of whether the person was a Norwegian women recruited into a Marxist cult in the 1980s or a British schoolboy lured to fight for Islamists in Syria in 2014, writes Charlotte McDonald-Gibson.

The gunman who killed 10 people in a supermarket in Buffalo last week intended to target a second store on Saturday if he had not been stopped, police said.

Buffalo police chief Joseph Gramaglia told local media that there was evidence to suggest the gunman wanted to target a second store on Saturday if he had not been stopped.

Of the 13 people shot, 11 were Black.

ICYMI: In a statement on Monday, Tops Friendly Markets thanked members of the local community and law enforcement for their efforts over the weekend, when 10 people were shot dead and three others wounded by a gunman.

The chain, who said the tragedy will not change its commitment to the predominantly Black neighborhood around the store where the shooting happened, also announced a series of initiatives to help locals

A shuttle bus bill run to the nearest Tops store, the company said, and food and supplies will also be made available via the city’s Resource Council, a charity.

The Jefferson Avenue Tops supermarket is expected to remain closed “until further notice” as the investigation into the deadly shooting continues.

ICYMI: The gunman accused of killing 10 people in a racially-motivated mass shooting in Buffalo, New York on Saturday appeared to have racist slogans daubed on his weapon.

A video appeared to show the suspect, 18-year-old Payton Gendron, with the N-word and the number 14 — a known white supremacist code — written on the barrel of the gun in white paint.

A government official said “14” refers to a 14-word statement that is popular with white supremacists, according to buffalonews.

Mr Gendron has pleaded not guilty to first degree murder charges.

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ICYMI: Payton Gendron, the Buffalo shooting suspect, would have continued shooting “more Black people” following the attack on a supermarket, police have reportedly said.

Buffalo police commissioner Joseph Gramaglia told ABC News on Monday that Mr Gendron, 18, could have continued shooting in the area around the Tops supermarket on Saturday, where 10 people were shot dead.

Three others were wounded in the attack, and according to police 11 of his alleged victims were Black. Authorities have described the shooting as a racially motivated hate crime.

“We have uncovered information that if I have escaped the [Tops] supermarket, he had plans to continue his attack,” Mr Gramaglia said. “He had plans to continue driving down Jefferson Ave to shoot more Black people … possibly go to another store [or] location.”

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ICYMI: Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney has called out her own party on the issue of white nationalism after Saturday’s shooting in Buffalo, and others across the United States this weekend.

She tweeted: “The House GOP leadership has enabled white nationalism, white supremacy, and anti-semitism. History has taught us that what begins with words ends in far worse. GOP leaders must renounce and reject these views and those who hold them.”

It comes after New York governor described the 18-year-old Buffalo gunman as a “white supremacist” following revelations about his beliefs and past history, as well as apparent white supremacist motives.

Republicans have staunchly defended gun rights in spite of previous mass shootings, and some in Congress have been accused of furthering white nationalist rhetoric.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to engage with a query from a Fox News correspondent who asked why President Joe Biden was able to visit Buffalo to comfort victims of a white supremacist mass shooting which took place there over the weekend but not other disaster -stricken communities.

Andrew Feinberg has the details.