Buffalo gunman spent time in mental hospital after threatening to shoot up his school [Video]

• The teenager suspected of shooting up a grocery store in Buffalo, N.Y., had previously threatened to shoot up his school in his hometown of Conklin.
• After undergoing a mental health evaluation last year, he spent a day and a half in a hospital.
• On Saturday, he drove over 200 miles to specifically target an area with a predominantly Black population.

Payton Gendron, the 18-year-old suspect for the shooting that killed 10 at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, had threatened to shoot up his school last year, officials revealed.

Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, Buffalo police commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said that state police investigated and interviewed Gendron after he threatened to shoot up Susquehanna Valley High School in his hometown of Conklin, New York. After bringing him in for a mental health evaluation, the suspect had to spend a day and a half in a hospital.

Authorities said that the threat was a general one, however, and not directed at any specific person or place.

According to Gramaglia, the evidence proves that the Buffalo shooting “is an absolute racist hate crime.” The suspect has been charged with first-degree murder, and the case is also being investigated as a hate crime and an act of terrorism.

The suspect had driven over 200 miles from Conklin to east Buffalo specifically to target an area with a predominantly Black population. He also scoped out the Tops supermarket on Friday.

When he stepped out of his car at around 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, he was wearing a helmet and body armor. He then started shooting with a Bushmaster AR-15-style assault rifle while still at the parking lot.

The gunman also livestreamed the shooting on the streaming platform Twitch, but the stream was taken down less than two minutes after the shooting started.

He shot at 13 people, 11 of whom were Black. The shooting killed 10 people. Among those who lost their lives were four store employees, including retired Buffalo police lieutenant Aaron Salter, who worked as the store’s security guard. Salter fired back at the shooter, but the bullet failed to pierce the shooter’s armor. The rest of the victims were store customers.

Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown praised the police for responding swiftly. The officers confronted the shooter and persuaded him to drop his gun before he could shoot himself.

Authorities found a shotgun and a second rifle in the shooter’s car. Officials have yet to say when the suspect acquired the firearms — whether it was before or after his mental health evaluation.

The suspect also used a high-capacity magazine, which is illegal in New York. According to Gov. Kathy Hochul, this means that it was illegally purchased or illegally transported across state lines.

Officers also found a 180-page document, which seems to belong to the shooter, that was filled with racist views. The document also mentioned the racist conspiracy theory called the “great replacement,” which claims that white Americans are at risk of being “replaced” by people of color.

Source: NPR