Washington: The gunman at the centre of last month’s Buffalo massacre has been charged with 26 hate crimes that make him eligible for the death penalty, with the US Justice Department releasing chilling new details about the mass shooting.
According to documents filed in court on Thursday (AEST), 18-year-old Payton Gendron left a note with his parents apologising for the May 14 attack and telling them he had to conduct the massacre because he cares “for the future of the white race”.
The FBI also recovered a candy bar receipt at his family home showing that he had scoped out the site of the shooting one week before it took place, along with handwritten sketches of what appeared be the interior layout of the Tops Supermarket where his rampage was conducted and livestreamed on the internet.
In a manifesto outlining his plans, Gendron also allegedly revealed that his goals were to “kill as many blacks as possible”; to “avoid dying”; and to “spread ideals” – notably that of a racist ideology called the “great replacement theory” that suggests minorities are intent on replacing white people.
And after shooting his first seven black victims, he came across a white male Tops employee who had been injured but “rather than shooting him, Gendron said sorry… before moving on through the rest of the store to find more black people to shoot and kill.”