The man who shot 10 people to death Saturday in an attack on a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, has detailed his plans in posts on an online platform over the past five months.
The Washington Post newspaper had access to more than 600 pages of messages written by Payton Gendron, 18, on the Discord app, in which users create guest-restricted chat groups.
According to the report, Gendron decided to carry out the attack in December 2021. At the time, he wrote in the app that he would kill those he called “surrogates” – a reference to the “theory of replacement”, increasingly widespread in the US, according to which Americans risk being replaced by people of color. Days before the attack, he published a 180-page racist manifesto online.
According to the messages posted by the shooter, in February of this year he decided that the target would be the Tops supermarket in Buffalo, based on the high concentration of black people in the region. Gendron, white, reached 13 people, 11 of whom were black. The attack was broadcast by him live through the Twitch platform, Amazon’s streaming service used mainly by gamers.
On March 8, according to the posts, the shooter made a trip to the place to visit the store and see how security was done. Gendron is from Conklin, also in New York, 330 km from Buffalo.
He also said that more than 50 blacks were there on the day of the visit. The messages are accompanied by sketches of the supermarket’s floor plan and several photographs. The shooter was even confronted by a security guard at the establishment, who was surprised by the fact that he had gone to the place several times. Gendron, then, would have invented an excuse. “It was close,” he said in one of the posts.
The gunman identified the supermarket as “Attack Area 1” and expressed intent to shoot at other locations such as churches and schools. On April 28, he even questions why the FBI isn’t after him. A police spokesperson told the Washington Post that the agency knew nothing about the gunman before the attack.
The messages posted on Discord were not publicly available, and the newspaper report stated that the company declined to say how many people were able to see the posts before the bombing.
In addition to detailing Gendron’s plans, the posts display other violent behavior, such as when he told of mutilating a cat or undergoing a mental health evaluation in June 2021, after he told school he wanted to “commit an attack.” suicidal” when asked what he would like to do after graduating. He was taken to a psychiatric hospital and released a day and a half later.
At the time, he told police he was joking, but in the messages he posted, he said it wasn’t a joke. In November, Gendron released a copy of the manifesto published by Brenton Tarrant, an outspoken racist who killed 51 Muslims in attacks on two mosques in New Zealand in 2019.
The Buffalo bombing recalls other racially motivated massacres that have taken place in the US in recent years, including a Pittsburgh synagogue attack that left 11 dead in 2018 and the March 2021 Atlanta shootings in which a white man killed eight people. , aimed at reaching Asians.
The attack also puts police, social media and the Biden government in crosshairs. Activists, politicians and experts are trying to understand how the massacre could have been avoided. Even after being investigated by the police last year, Gendron had no trouble buying a weapon capable of firing faster than ordinary weapons.
Commenting on the attack on Saturday (14), President Biden did not talk about strengthening gun controls, but emphasized that the case was about terrorism. “We must do everything in our power to end domestic hate-fueled terrorism,” he said in a statement.
MAJOR GUN LAWS IN THE USA
1791
2nd Constitutional Amendment
It says: “A well-regulated militia, being necessary for the security of a free state, the right to keep and bear arms must not be infringed.”
1934
National Firearms Act
First federal law to regulate and tax the manufacture and sale of larger-caliber weapons. Pistols were left out of the rules.
1938
Federal Firearms Act
It demanded that manufacturers, importers and sellers of weapons have a license to act and prevented the sale of weapons to ex-convicts by Justice, among other categories.
1968
Gun Control Act
It expanded the list of purchase restrictions, mandated that weapons have a registration number and vetoed importation, except for sporting purposes — but without defining what “sporting purposes” would be.
1986
Firearms Owners’ Protection Act
It lifted several restrictions on buying, legalized selling at gun fairs and relaxed requirements for dealers to keep records on products sold.
1993
Brady Act (Brady Act)
It set a five-day lead-time between purchase and delivery to allow more time for customer background checks. In the following years, the standard was relaxed and, nowadays, a quick assessment is allowed in many cases.
1994
Federal Assault Weapons Ban
It banned the manufacture, sale and possession of semi-automatic and higher firepower weapons. The measure expired in 2004 and was not renewed.
2005
Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act
It banned manufacturers and sellers from being prosecuted if their products are used in crimes and began to require weapons to be transported and kept safely.
2007
The NCIS Improvement Amendments Act provided financial incentives for states to improve the databases that sellers consult before delivering weapons to buyers.
