Payton Gendron and the 2022 Buffalo Supermarket Massacre
Overview
On May 14, 2022, Payton Spencer Gendron carried out a deliberately planned, racially motivated mass shooting at the Tops Friendly Markets grocery store at 1275 Jefferson Avenue in Buffalo, New York. Gendron, an 18-year-old white supremacist from Conklin, New York, selected the store because it served a predominantly Black neighborhood on Buffalo’s East Side. He murdered ten Black people and wounded three other individuals before surrendering to police.
The attack was not an impulsive act. Investigators determined that Gendron had spent months studying previous mass shootings, consuming racist extremist material, acquiring equipment and identifying a location where he believed he could kill a large number of Black people. He traveled more than 200 miles from his home in Broome County to Buffalo and had previously visited the neighborhood while preparing for the massacre.
Planning and Racist Motivation
Gendron documented much of his planning in writings posted online shortly before the attack. His material expressed anti-Black hatred, white-supremacist beliefs and support for the false conspiracy theory commonly called the “great replacement.” That theory claims that white populations are intentionally being replaced by immigrants and racial minorities. Gendron attempted to use mass murder to promote those beliefs and encourage additional racist violence.
He researched communities in New York and considered demographic information while selecting a target. The Jefferson Avenue Tops store was chosen because it was located in a heavily Black neighborhood and was a central source of food and services for local residents. Investigators said Gendron conducted reconnaissance around the store before the shooting and developed plans concerning its entrances, interior layout and security presence.
Gendron armed himself with a Bushmaster XM-15 semiautomatic rifle and wore tactical equipment, including body armor and a helmet-mounted camera. Racist language and references were written on the rifle. Additional firearms were found in his vehicle but were not used during the supermarket attack.
The Attack at Tops Friendly Markets
At approximately 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 14, 2022, Gendron arrived at the Tops supermarket while customers and employees were inside. He left his vehicle wearing tactical equipment and immediately began firing at people near the front of the store and in the parking area. He then entered the building and continued shooting shoppers and employees.
Gendron transmitted part of the attack through an online livestream. The broadcast was removed within minutes, but copies were later circulated on other websites. The recording showed that the victims were attacked with little or no warning while performing ordinary activities such as shopping, working or helping other neighborhood residents obtain groceries.
Aaron Salter Jr., a retired Buffalo Police Department lieutenant who was working as the store’s security guard, confronted Gendron and fired at him. Salter struck the attacker, but Gendron’s protective equipment prevented the shot from stopping him. Gendron returned fire and murdered Salter. Salter’s attempt to intervene was credited with demonstrating extraordinary courage during the attack.
Thirteen people were shot. Eleven of those victims were Black and two were white. All ten people who died were Black. The racial composition of the victims, the location selected and Gendron’s own writings established that the massacre was an intentional act of racist terrorism rather than a random attack.
People Murdered on May 14, 2022
- Roberta A. Drury, 32 — Murdered on May 14, 2022, at Tops Friendly Markets, 1275 Jefferson Avenue, Buffalo, New York. Drury was the youngest person killed in the attack and had gone to the store to purchase groceries.
- Margus D. Morrison, 52 — Murdered on May 14, 2022, at the Tops supermarket on Jefferson Avenue in Buffalo. Morrison was a Buffalo resident and father who was remembered by relatives for his sense of humor and devotion to his family.
- Andre Mackneil, 53 — Murdered on May 14, 2022, at the Buffalo Tops store. Mackneil was reportedly in Buffalo visiting relatives and had gone to the supermarket to purchase a birthday cake for his young son.
- Aaron Salter Jr., 55 — Murdered on May 14, 2022, while working as a security guard at Tops Friendly Markets in Buffalo. Salter was a retired Buffalo police lieutenant who confronted and fired at Gendron in an effort to protect the people inside the store.
- Geraldine Talley, 62 — Murdered on May 14, 2022, at the Jefferson Avenue Tops supermarket. Talley was shopping with her fiancé when the attack began and was remembered by her family as a loving mother, sister and aunt.
- Celestine Chaney, 65 — Murdered on May 14, 2022, inside Tops Friendly Markets in Buffalo. Chaney was a mother and grandmother who had survived breast cancer and had gone shopping with her sister.
- Heyward Patterson, 67 — Murdered on May 14, 2022, outside the Tops supermarket in Buffalo. Patterson was a church deacon who regularly helped residents by driving them to the store and assisting them with their groceries.
- Katherine Massey, 72 — Murdered on May 14, 2022, at the Tops store on Jefferson Avenue. Massey was a community activist and writer who had advocated for civil rights, neighborhood improvement and measures intended to reduce gun violence.
- Pearl Young, 77 — Murdered on May 14, 2022, at Tops Friendly Markets in Buffalo. Young was a longtime educator and church member who had helped operate a food pantry serving people in need for many years.
- Ruth Whitfield, 86 — Murdered on May 14, 2022, at the Jefferson Avenue supermarket. Whitfield was a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother who had stopped at the store after visiting her husband at a nursing facility.
The Wounded Survivors
Three additional victims were wounded but survived. The survivors included Tops employees and a customer. Their injuries added to the lasting physical and psychological consequences of the massacre. Employees who escaped the gunfire also described hiding, fleeing through the building and attempting to help other people as the attack unfolded.
Many people who were not physically wounded experienced severe trauma. Shoppers, store employees, emergency personnel, victims’ relatives and residents of the surrounding neighborhood were forced to confront the fact that an ordinary community grocery store had been intentionally transformed into the site of a racist mass killing.
Arrest at the Supermarket
Buffalo police officers arrived within minutes. When confronted outside the store, Gendron briefly held the rifle near his neck. Officers persuaded him to put down the weapon, and he surrendered at approximately 2:36 p.m. He was arrested at the scene without being killed or seriously injured.
Evidence recovered after the shooting indicated that Gendron had considered continuing the attack at additional locations if he escaped from the supermarket. His arrest prevented him from carrying out any further planned violence. He was transported from the scene and initially charged with first-degree murder.
State Charges and Guilty Plea
On June 2, 2022, an Erie County grand jury indictment was announced against Gendron. The state case included charges of first-degree murder, second-degree murder as a hate crime, attempted murder as a hate crime, criminal possession of a weapon and a domestic act of terrorism motivated by hate.
The terrorism charge was especially significant because prosecutors alleged that Gendron committed mass murder to intimidate or coerce a civilian population because of race. His prosecution became the first case in New York in which a defendant was convicted of a domestic act of terrorism motivated by hate.
On November 28, 2022, Gendron pleaded guilty to the state charges against him. His pleas included ten counts of first-degree murder, three counts of attempted murder as a hate crime, one weapons count and one count of domestic terrorism motivated by hate. The guilty pleas eliminated the need for a state murder trial and ensured that he would receive a sentence preventing his release from prison.
State Sentencing
Gendron was sentenced in Erie County Court on February 15, 2023. Relatives of the people he murdered and survivors of the attack addressed the court, describing the lives destroyed, the continuing grief experienced by their families and the fear inflicted upon Buffalo’s Black community.
Judge Susan Eagan sentenced Gendron to eleven concurrent terms of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Additional sentences totaling 90 years were imposed for the attempted murders of the three surviving victims. The court rejected any possibility that Gendron could receive youthful-offender treatment because of his age at the time of the massacre.
During the hearing, Gendron made a brief statement apologizing for the attack. His words were met with anger and skepticism by many relatives, who emphasized that the massacre involved extensive preparation and a conscious decision to murder people solely because they were Black.
Federal Hate-Crime Case
Separate from the New York prosecution, Gendron was indicted on federal hate-crime and firearms charges. The federal indictment included ten counts of committing a hate crime resulting in death, three hate-crime counts involving attempted killings and multiple charges involving the use and discharge of a firearm during violent crimes.
Federal prosecutors alleged that Gendron selected the Tops supermarket to maximize the number of Black victims and that he intended to spread fear beyond those he directly attacked. In January 2024, the United States Department of Justice announced that it would seek the federal death penalty. Gendron has pleaded not guilty in the federal case, which remained pending after his state conviction and life sentence.
Effects on Buffalo
The massacre devastated Buffalo’s East Side and removed the neighborhood’s primary full-service grocery store while the crime scene was investigated and the building was repaired. Community groups, churches, government agencies and volunteers organized food distribution and transportation assistance for residents who depended on the store.
The attack also produced continuing public discussions about white-supremacist radicalization, online extremism, livestreaming, firearms regulation and the circulation of mass-shooting propaganda. Families of the victims pursued legal action against companies and individuals they believed contributed to Gendron’s access to weapons or exposure to extremist material.
Memorials were created to preserve the names and lives of the ten people murdered. On the second anniversary of the massacre, a memorial area known as the 5/14 Tops Honor Space was dedicated near the supermarket. The site was designed to remember the dead, recognize the wounded and provide a permanent place for reflection.
Legacy of the Crime
The Buffalo supermarket massacre was one of the deadliest racist attacks in recent American history. Gendron did not personally know the people he murdered. He selected them because of their race and attacked a place where residents expected to be safe while shopping, working and helping their neighbors.
The victims were parents, grandparents, educators, workers, church members, caregivers and community advocates. Their murders caused losses extending far beyond the supermarket. Families lost loved ones, a neighborhood lost respected residents and survivors were left with injuries and trauma that continued long after the store reopened.
Payton Gendron’s state conviction guarantees that he will spend the remainder of his life in prison without parole. His case remains a documented example of domestic terrorism motivated by white supremacy and demonstrates how online radicalization, deliberate planning and racial hatred can lead to catastrophic violence against an entire community.
