President Joe Biden called Saturday’s Buffalo supermarket attack “an act of domestic terrorism,” while the Department of Justice investigated the apparently racially motivated mass shooting as a hate crime.
Biden said “hearts all across this country are with the people of Buffalo” after a teenage gunman killed 10 people and injured three others at a Tops Friendly Market in a predominantly black neighborhood of the city.
“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 praised law enforcement and first responders, adding that he and First Lady Jill Biden were praying for the victims and their families.
Accused shooter Payton Gendron, 18, posted a rambling manifesto spewing racist views and saying he had been radicalized on the dark corners of the web, law enforcement sources said. Eleven of his victims were black, officials said Saturday.
US Attorney Gen. Merrick Garland said the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were “working closely” with the Buffalo Police Department and other law enforcement agencies.
More coverage on the Buffalo supermarket shooting
- FBI interviews parents of alleged Buffalo supermarket shooter Payton Gendron
- Payton Gendron wore hazmat suit to school, was hospitalized after threatening classmates
- Payton Gendron allegedly left ammo, rifle at friend’s a day before Buffalo massacre
“The Justice Department is investigating this matter as a hate crime and an act of racially-motivated violent extremism,” Garland said in a statement. “The Justice Department is committed to conducting a thorough and expeditious investigation into this shooting and to seeking justice for these innocent victims.”
