Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN/AP) — The white gunman charged with killing 10 Black people in a racist mass shooting at the Tops Friendly Market on Jefferson Avenue in Buffalo pleaded not guilty Monday to federal hate crime charges that could be punishable by the death penalty.
19-year-old Payton Gendron was indicted last week on hate crimes and weapons counts. The plea was entered in court to Justice Kenneth Schroeder by Gendron’s attorney, who said she hoped to resolve the case before trial.
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Wearing an orange jumpsuit and shackles, Gendron was silent during the brief arraignment.
The 27-count federal indictment contains special findings, including that Gendron engaged in substantial planning to commit an act of terrorism and took aim at vulnerable older people — specifically 86-year-old Ruth Whitfield, 77-year-old Pearl Young, 72-year-old Katherine Massey, 67-year-old Heyward Patterson and 65-year-old Celestine Chaney.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, who halted federal executions last year, has not ruled out seeking the death penalty against Gendron. The Justice Department said a decision on whether to seek the death penalty would come later.
The Justice Department said a decision on whether to seek the death penalty against the shooter, who turned 19 in June, would come later.
Gendron, who livestreamed the May 14 attack, was arrested just outside the entrance of the Tops Friendly Supermarket after donning body armor and opening fire on weekend shoppers and employees in the parking lot and inside. Three people were wounded.
"I get the law, I get the tactics and how this is going to play out, as far as the defense goes. I get it, but for me, he's guilty," said Zeneta Everhart after the court proceeding. Her son, Zaire Goodman, was one of the three who were wounded in the attack. "We all know he's guilty. We saw what he did. The world saw what he did. He posted what he did. So to me, he's guilty before even a trial."
The store reopened to the public last week, two months after the attack.
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From here, the prosecution will now have a 45-day period to put together discovery for the federal case against Gendron, with a hard deadline of Sept. 2 to have everything in place.
At that time, the defense will have until Dec. 9 to review the discovery for trial. Then at which point, both parties will reconvene for a status conference at 10:30 a.m. ET.
While the case against Gendron will continue to drag out for a while, as the discovery is gathered and reviewed by both sides, the timing of everything going forward for the federal case is not something that Everhart is overly concerned with.
"For me, the length of time isn't an issue. I think that the prosecutors know what they're doing, and I'd rather it take longer. I want to make sure that they have all of the evidence, I want to make sure that all their t's are crossed and i's are dotted," Everhart said. "I just want justice for Zaire, and so however long it takes, I'm fine with it."
The shooter continues to remain in custody of the State.
Investigators say the shooter drove for more than three hours from his home in Conklin, New York, to a busy grocery store chosen for its location in a predominantly Black neighborhood, with the intent of killing as many Black people as possible. He was motivated, they said, by white supremacist beliefs which he described in online diary entries.
Gendron wrote as far back as November about staging a livestreamed attack, practiced shooting from his car and did reconnaissance on the store two months before carrying out the plans, according to the writings.
He arrived at the store wearing camouflage clothing and a tactical-style helmet fitted with a video camera.
The indictment seeks the forfeiture of an extensive arsenal recovered from Gendron's car and home. It includes the Bushmaster XM-15 semi-automatic rifle used in the shooting and a 12-gauge loaded shotgun and loaded bolt-action rifle and ammunition taken from the car. Authorities seized additional ammunition and firearms accessories from his home.
The federal indictment charges Gendron with 10 counts of hate crimes resulting in death, three counts of hate crimes involving an attempt to kill three people and another hate crime count alleging Gendron tried to kill other Black people in and around the store. It also includes 13 counts of using a firearm in a hate crime.
Gendron also faces a parallel state prosecution on charges including hate-motivated domestic terrorism, murder and attempted murder as a hate crime. The domestic terrorism hate crime charge carries an automatic life sentence. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges as well.