Buffalo shooting suspect said he committed the attack ‘for the future of the White race’

Payton Gendron, the White suspect in custody for allegedly shooting and killing ten Black people during a racially motivated attack at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, told his family in an apology note that he committed the attack “for the future of the White race,” a federal criminal complaint stated.

According to NBC News, authorities found the handwritten note in Gendron’s bedroom a day after he went to Tops Friendly Market to carry out the attack. Gendron, 18, ended up killing ten Black people and injuring three others in the May 14 shooting. The injured victims included one Black person and two White people.

Gendron, who was arrested at the scene of the incident, was on Wednesday charged with 26 federal counts of hate crimes and firearms offenses. He also faces 25 state criminal counts indictment for offenses including murder and attempted murder as a hate crime and weapons possession.

Gendron, in the handwritten note, “apologized to his family for committing ‘this attack’ and stated that he ‘had to commit this attack’ because he cares ‘for the future of the White race,’” the federal criminal complaint stated.

The note in question was discovered by the FBI after they obtained a federal search warrant to search his home in Conklin, New York. Among the other items found included a March 8 receipt he got from Tops after buying a candy bar. Authorities also found what seemed to be handwritten sketches of the store’s interior set-up, the complaint stated, per NBC News.

Authorities also allege Gendron went to the store on three separate occasions on March 8 and drew two sketches throughout the course of those visits. A day before the attack, prosecutors also said the White suspect visited the store “and spent time in front and inside the store.” The Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo is situated in a predominantly Black neighborhood. 

Around 2 and half hours before the attack, Gendron is said to have visited Tops to ascertain the number of Black people in the store and the whereabouts of the security guard, the complaint added.

“Gendron’s motive for the mass shooting was to prevent Black people from replacing white people and eliminating the white race, and to inspire others to commit similar attacks,” the complaint stated.