New Shocking Development For Buffalo Supermarket Shooter
The white man who opened fire inside a Buffalo supermarket in a racially motivated massacre is facing the ultimate penalty by the Department of Justice.
Payton Gendron, 20, is already serving a life sentence after pleading guilty to state charges of murder and hate-motivated domestic terrorism in connection to the fatal mass shooting of ten Black people at Tops Friendly Market back in 2022, per The New York Times.
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Read more from CBS News:
New York does not have capital punishment, but the Justice Department had the option of seeking the death penalty in a separate federal hate crimes case. The gunman had promised to plead guilty in that case if prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty.
The Justice Department has made federal death penalty cases a rarity since the election of President Biden, who opposes capital punishment. This is the first time Attorney General Merrick Garland has authorized a new pursuit of the death penalty. Under his leadership, the Justice Department has permitted the continuation of two capital prosecutions and withdrawn from pursuing death in more than two dozen cases.
The families of the victims weren’t necessarily jovial at the news of the filing. Mark Talley, grandson of Geraldine Talley who was killed in the incident, said he would’ve rathered Gendron do prison time.
“It would have satisfied me more knowing he would have spent the rest of his life in prison being surrounded by the population of people he tried to kill. I would prefer he spend the rest of his life in prison suffering every day,” he told CBS.
In a statement on behalf of the other relatives of the victims, attorney Terrence Connors said the families were relieved of the decision but “no decision could eliminate the pain and suffering they continue to experience.”
In the same breath, Jamila Hodge, CEO of Equal Justice USA, an organization fighting against the expansion of death penalty legislation, said execution will do nothing to solve the real problem.
“The government’s decision to pursue a death sentence will do nothing to address the racism and hatred that fueled the mass murder. Ultimately, this pursuit will inflict more pain and renewed trauma on the victims’ families and the larger Black community already shattered by loss and desperately in need of healing and solutions that truly build community safety,” Hodge said in a statement.
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