By Joseph Ax
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. prosecutors will seek the death penalty against the avowed white supremacist who killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo, New York, grocery store in 2022, according to a Friday filing in federal court.
Payton Gendron, who was 18 at the time of the mass shooting, has already pleaded guilty to separate state charges of murder and domestic terrorism and was sentenced in February to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
His defense lawyers have previously said he would consider pleading guilty to more than two dozen federal charges – including hate crime and firearm offenses – if the death penalty were taken off the table.
In Friday’s filing, the U.S. Justice Department outlined the reasons for seeking the death penalty, including the fact that the massacre was motivated by Gendron’s “animus toward Black persons.”
Authorities said Gendron targeted a Tops Friendly Markets store on May 14, 2022, because it was in a predominantly Black neighborhood.
He streamed live video of the attack on the social media platform Twitch and posted material online showing he had drawn inspiration from other racially motivated mass killings, according to authorities.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Frances Kerry)
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