Judy: Federal authorities are
investigating the weekend
massacre in Buffalo as a
potential hate crime.
Law enforcement officials also
reported today the accused
gunman had planned to continue
his shooting spree at another
location if he had escaped.
That news came as communities in
Buffalo mourned the losses
from an attack that claimed 10
lives.
All were black.
Special correspondent ct wise
has our report.
>> Today as the community of
Buffalo, New York learn more
about a raised a shooting
rampage at a supermarket over
the weekend, the reality was
setting in.
Eddie kolbert has lived in the
area for more than 50 years.
He is suddenly fearful of his
usual routines and visits to
local stores.
>> I was sticking about the fact
it could be me or anybody else
going in or coming out of that
store.
So this is something that is
going to be scary for anybody
now.
Because we do not know if there
is any other haters that is out
there that is going to copy
this.
>> Tops market sees heavy foot
traffic from residents nearby as
one of the only grocery stores
in the predominantly black
neighborhood.
Keyshanti Atkinson was working
as a cashier when the gunman
entered.
She is still reeling from the
experience.
>> I was scared because I
did not know if he was going to
find us and just shoot us.
I did not know nothing.
But now, I mean, I am still a
little bit scared because this
was supposed to be a safe
environment.
>> The attack happened on
Saturday here at the top
supermarket on Buffalo's
eastside.
The alleged gunman drove about
200 miles from his hometown to
the parking light behind me
armed with an assault rifle.
Today, law enforcement officials
remained at the scene pouring
over the evidence.
The 18-year-old gunman
live-streamed the shooting from
a helmet camera to a small
audience on the platform twitch.
He shot 13 people, killing 10 of
them.
Of his victims, 11 were black.
The Buffalo complete -- the
Buffalo police commissioner made
clear he was targeting them.
>> The evidence we have
uncovered so far makes no
mistake this was an absolute
racist hate crime.
>> Payton Gendron who ultimately
surrendered to police after
putting a weapon to his neck
pleaded not guilty.
The gunman planed to continue
his rampage possibly at another
supermarket.
The massacre is reminiscent of
other racist attacks including a
2015 mass shooting at a black
church in Charleston and another
in 2019 at a Walmart in
predominantly hispanic area in
El Paso, Texas.
It has left families like Ruth
Whitfield's in agonizing grief.
Whitfield was shopping while
visiting her husband in a
nursing home.
Going to top supermarket was a
daily ritual for her.
She was 86 years old.
>> We have no answers.
What to we tell our father?
He does not even know.
How do we tell him the love of
his life, his primary caretaker
--
>> Another victim, kat Massey
was advocate for civil rights
and education.
She wrote to a newspaper calling
for federal regulation of
firearms.
She was 72 years old.
Reverend Denise Walton Glenn has
been providing relief to her
community.
She works for an interfaith
racial justice and equity
organization.
>> Our community is hurting.
Our community is devastated.
As much as we try not to
struggle with the sphere of
fear, people are scared.
People are scared to leave their
People are scared to go into
public spaces.
Children are afraid to return to
school.
They are afraid for their
parents to go to work or their
caregivers to go to work.
People are afraid.
>> Officials say the gunman
subscribed to a racist ideology
known as the great replacement
theory that has made its way
from the fringes of the internet
into mainstream discourse on the
right.
It is a belief in the false
theory there is a plot by
nonwhite people to replace the
power and influence of white
people.
A civil rights attorney blames
the gunman and those who
influenced him to commit the
act.
>> All these people who are
talking about this race
replacement theory, radicalizing
these young impressionable minds
to go out and do irrational
acts.
Because they know that they have
an irrational audience.
>> Police were called to his
high school last June after he
made threatening remarks but
after a brief mental health
evaluation, he was free to go.
The impacts of that release are
reverberating throughout the
city and the country.
>> This is our mother.
This is our lives.
We need help.
We are asking you to help us.
Help us change this.
This cannot keep happening.
>> The president and first lady
will make a trip to Buffalo
tomorrow to meet with families
and see the grieving community