After 13 people were shot, including 10 who were killed, during the recent mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, people took to Twitter to criticize the police handling of the gunman.
Payton Gendron allegedly opened fire at the Tops Friendly Market in a predominantly Black neighborhood, The Independent reports.
Authorities said the 18-year-old arrived at the grocery store around 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, wearing tactical gear and a helmet while carrying an AR-15 and a camera to livestream the assault on Twitch, which the service later removed.
When police took Gendron into custody, pictures captured the calm interaction between the officer and gunman.
#BREAKING Several people wounded during shooting attack in a supermarket in Buffalo, NY.
Suspect arrested, described himself as a white supremacist and anti-semite in an online manifesto pic.twitter.com/F2ZPSWUSCb— Guy Elster (@guyelster) May 14, 2022
The New York Times reports that Gendron was held for a mental evaluation in 2021.
The Associated Press also notes that Gendron’s mental health possibly played a role in his racially motivated massacre.
The media paints the final narrative and programs you on how to think and view the final product. It doesn’t matter what you see or hear. What matters is what you are programmed to accept and or reject. Now go back to sleep sheep. He was mentally ill. A lone wolf. pic.twitter.com/Z9aq9sSxHE
— #TheResistance (@BoneKnightmare) May 16, 2022
Twitter immediately noticed the treatment Gendron received after the shooting.
A 18-year-old white man drove hours to Buffalo and shot and killed multiple people at a grocery store in a predominately Black community.
That is the definition of terrorism
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) May 14, 2022
Two things will happen like clockwork:
1. He was mentally ill
2. What about Chicago?#Buffalo— Bakari Sellers (@Bakari_Sellers) May 15, 2022
Except when that guy in Buffalo kills ten Black people. Then we’ll say nothing. https://t.co/mkNs3vUDLP
— Soledad O’Brien (@soledadobrien) May 15, 2022
To all these low-life grifters pushing the idea that white people are endangered and being phased out of society. I hope you all realize you are complicit in the people murdered today in Buffalo. Fuck. You.
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) May 15, 2022
I’m sick because I shop at that supermarket. It’s located in a lower-income Black neighborhood in Buffalo. This terrorist sought out Black people to kill. Literally came to the hood to kill us. And live-streamed it all.
— J Coley (They/Them) (@JColey716) May 14, 2022
Today, people buying groceries in a predominantly Black #Buffalo community were shot by a White man who believes the hate-filled propaganda that there’s a movement to replace White people.
White Supremacist Ideology + Hate + Irresponsible Fear Mongering + Guns = 10 people dead.
— Be A King (@BerniceKing) May 14, 2022
If you are thinking about using the phrase “racially-charged” in a headline or news report today — stop. Hit delete. Start over and make it plain. The shooter in Buffalo called himself a racist in his manifesto so you can too.
— Michele Norris (@michele_norris) May 15, 2022
People also compared the police treatment of Gendron with the treatment a young Black boy who was recently accused of stealing a bag of chips.
The white supermacist who shot and killed 10 with an AR15 at a supermarket in a predominantly black neighborhood in Buffalo, NY
was treated better by police
than this black child who grabbed some chips from the store. https://t.co/Qh32AnUTG1
— Roxann_Minerals (@Roxanne_Styx) May 16, 2022
People resurfaced a tweet from 2018 that compared the media’s perception of Michael Brown and the Austin bombing suspect Mark Anthony Conditt.
New York Times on Austin bomber: “Quiet, nerdy young man who came from a tight-knit, godly family.”
New York Times on Michael Brown: “No angel.” pic.twitter.com/PQrfsV4jGQ
— jordan (@JordanUhl) March 21, 2018
Despite the media’s perception of the gunman, video footage showed up-close shots of his weapon with the N-word and the number 14 — a known white supremacist code — scrawled in white paint on the barrel of his gun, according to The Independent.
Gendron also described himself as a fascist, white supremacist and anti-Semite. He allegedly regularly visited far-right platforms and message boards, including 4chan and Gab, that espoused white supremacist ideologies and conspiracy theories.
Buffalo police commissioner Joseph Gramaglia described the act as an “absolute racist hate crime,” CNN reports.
