Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - It was what the families of the victims' of the Tops shooting massacre in Buffalo knew would happen in a Buffalo courtroom Monday.
But it didn't make the news any easier to take.
The white gunman who massacred 10 Black shoppers and workers at the supermarket pleaded guilty on Monday to murder and hate-motivated terrorism charges, guaranteeing he will spend the rest of his life in prison without parole.
When the courtroom cleared and Payton Gendron, 19, was returned to incarceration, raw emotion took over, as families of the victims and their attorneys took to the podium at a local law firm.
"His voice made me feel sick, but it showed me that I was right in all the times that I've said that this country has a problem," said Zeneta Everhart, whose 20-year-old son, Zaire Goodman, was shot in the neck but survived. "This country is inherently violent, it is racist, and his voice showed that to me, because he didn't care."
Attorney Benjamin Crump, who represents several of the victims' families, says they remain baffled that the gunman survived, and they want harsh punishment for Gendron.
"We want him to be treated as the heinous, cold-blooded, vicious murderer that he was for killing all these innocent Black people," said Crump. "It is emotional, and we are angry."
Hear more from the victims' families during Monday's press conference in the player below:
