President Joe Biden called Saturday’s supermarket shooting in Buffalo “an act of domestic terrorism,” while the Department of Justice investigated the racially charged mass shooting as a hate crime.
After a teenage gunman killed 10 people and injured 3 others at a Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo’s predominantly black neighborhood, Biden said, “hearts all across this country are with the people of Buffalo.”
“We still need to learn more about the motivation for today’s shooting as law enforcement does its work, but we don’t need anything else to state a clear moral truth: A racially motivated hate crime is abhorrent to the very fabric of this nation,” Biden said in a statement.
“Any act of domestic terrorism, including an act perpetrated in the name of a repugnant white nationalist ideology, is antithetical to everything we stand for in America. Hate must have no safe harbor. We must do everything in our power to end hate-fueled domestic terrorism.”
The president commended law enforcement and first responders and said he and First Lady Jill Biden were praying for the victims and their families.
According to law enforcement sources, accused shooter Payton Gendron, 18, posted a blathering manifesto spouting racist views and claiming he was radicalized on the dark corners of the internet. Officials said Saturday that 11 of his victims were black.
The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives were “working closely” with the Buffalo Police Department and other law enforcement agencies, according to US Attorney General Merrick Garland.
