Buffalo supermarket shooter sentenced in heart-wrenching hearing
Buffalo, New York - A white supremacist who fatally shot 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket in May 2022 has been given a life sentence behind bars, with no chance of parole.
Payton Gendron (19) received his sentence at the Erie County Court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to 25 counts, including first-degree murder and terrorism motivated by hate.
The sentence was handed down in a court hearing marked by heart-wrenching testimonies from family members of the victims.
"You are going to come to our city and decide you don't like Black people. Man, you don't know a damn thing about Black people. We're human," said Barbara Massey, whose sister Katherine was killed in the shooting.
Massey's remarks were interrupted when her son appeared to lunge at Gendron.
"He saw me emotional and I'm his mom," Massey explained to reporters after the hearing, according to the BBC. "We're close. You hurt one of us, you hurt us all."
Zeneta Everhart, the mother of Zaire Goodman, who was injured in the shooting, told the court her son still suffers from survivor's guilt. "He is dealing with the pain that I as a mother cannot bear," she said.
"On that day, this terrorist made the choice that the value of a Black human meant nothing to him… whatever the sentence is that [Gendron] receives, it will never be enough."
White supremacist shooter urges others not to follow in his footsteps
During the hearing, Gendron urged others not to plan any copycat shootings.
"I shot and killed people because they were Black. Looking back now, I can't believe I actually did it," he said.
"I believed what I read online and acted out of hate. I know I can't take it back, but I wish I could, and I don't want anyone to be inspired by me and what I did."
Gendron researched and purposefully chose to carry out the act of terror in the largely Black neighborhood, traveling more than three hours by car from his family's home in Conklin, New York, to commit the crime. In the wake of the shooting, it emerged Gendron had planned other racist attacks.
As she delivered the life sentence, Judge Susan Eagan said, "There can be no mercy for you, no understanding, no second chances. The damage you have caused is too great and the people you have hurt are too valuable to this community. You will never see the light of day as a free man ever again."
Gendron still faces federal hate and domestic terror charges, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
Cover photo: Matt Burkhartt / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP