Photo: Erie County District Attorney
The 18-year-old accused of opening fire at a Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo, New York on Saturday (May 14) reportedly "disguised himself" as a person experiencing homelessness the day before in order to stake out the location.
Payton Gendron is accused of driving 200 miles to the Tops Friendly Market off of Jefferson Avenue, shooting 13 people, killing 10, all of whom were Black, in what police are describing as a "racially-motivated hate crime."
License plate readers revealed that Gendron had arrived in Buffalo from Conklin on Friday (May 13). Now, a grocery store operations manager is revealing that the accused domestic terrorist actually came to the store the same day in order to perform reconnaissance.
"He was acting like he was homeless and needed change," Shonnell Teague, manager of the Tops Market told New York Daily News. "He was really checking out the store."
Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia confirmed Teague's account, noting that the shooter made several stops the day before the attack.
"He was in the Buffalo area, he was right in this area the day before," Gramaglia said during a news conference on Sunday (May 15). "We have identified some of the locations that he was at. We know he did some reconnaissance on the area and the store," the commissioner added.
Law enforcement officials also revealed they discovered evidence Gendron planned to continue his violent, targeted rampage had he not been stopped at the supermarket.
Erie County District Attorney John Flynn said Sunday (May 15) his office is considering a domestic terrorism charge against Gendron.
"We're looking at potentially multiple additional charges to be filed," Flynn told Fox News. "We're looking at domestic terrorism charges, we are looking at hate crime charges, there's actually a charge in New York State called domestic terrorism motivated by hate," Flynn added.
Gendron was arraigned Saturday night after the shooting on one count of first-degree murder and is expected in court on Thursday morning (May 19).
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