BUFFALO, New York — The white gunman who killed 10 Black individuals at a Buffalo grocery store pleaded not responsible Thursday to hate-motivated home terrorism and different fees. A prosecutor referred to as the proof towards him overwhelming.

A lawyer entered the plea for Payton Gendron, 18, within the first case to utilize New York’s home terrorism hate crime legislation. Gendron did not communicate in the course of the transient listening to with a heavy safety presence.

Witnesses, police and Gendron’s personal writings and livestreamed video have incriminated him because the gunman who used an AR-style semi-automatic rifle Could 14 to focus on customers and workers of a Tops Pleasant Market, and he surrendered on the crime scene after placing his rifle to his neck. Authorities stated he selected the shop due to its location in a predominantly Black neighborhood.

“There’s overwhelming proof of the defendant’s guilt,” Assistant District Lawyer John Fereleto stated. “The defendant was caught on the scene of the crime with the weapon in his arms.”

Gendron has been held with out bail because the capturing and is due again in court docket July 7.

He was charged with homicide shortly after the assault. On Wednesday, a brand new indictment expanded the case to incorporate the home terrorism cost, together with 10 counts of first-degree homicide, 10 counts of second-degree homicide as a hate crime, prison possession of a weapon and three counts of tried homicide as a hate crime.

“Whenever you hear the section ‘throw the ebook at’ somebody, properly, on this case proper right here, the defendant simply acquired ‘Conflict and Peace,’” District Lawyer John Flynn stated at a information convention after the arraignment.

The home terrorism hate crime cost – formally, home acts of terrorism motivated by hate within the first diploma – was added to state legislation simply two years in the past, after a mass capturing concentrating on Mexicans at a Walmart retailer in El Paso, Texas. The offense carries an computerized life sentence upon conviction.

Till now, no arrests or arraignments or arraignments below the legislation have been reported to the state Division of Legal Justice Companies, spokesperson Janine Kava stated.

In Gendron’s case, the cost accuses him of killing not less than 5 individuals “due to the perceived race and/or coloration” of his victims.

Outdoors court docket, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown referred to as Gendron “a racist, hate-filled outsider who got here to our neighborhood with the said intent to kill as many Black individuals as doable.”

Prosecutors stated Gendron drove about three hours to Buffalo from his dwelling in Conklin, New York, to focus on African Individuals. Shortly earlier than opening hearth, he posted paperwork that outlined his white supremacist views and revealed he had been planning the assault for months.

Federal authorities are also investigating the potential of hate crime fees towards Gendron.

The slain victims ranged in age from 32 to 86. Three different individuals have been wounded.

The bloodshed, adopted 10 days later by a mass capturing that killed 19 youngsters and two academics inside an elementary college in Uvalde, Texas, has renewed a nationwide debate about gun management.

In the meantime, a 911 dispatcher was fired Thursday after being accused by a Tops worker of hanging up on her in the course of the rampage. The dispatcher, who was placed on administrative go away two days after the capturing, was terminated after a disciplinary listening to Thursday, Erie County spokesperson Daniel Meyer stated.

County Govt Marc Poloncarz final month referred to as the dealing with of the 911 name “fully unacceptable” and stated the county would search to fireplace the worker.

The dispatcher’s union, the Civil Service Staff Affiliation, stated Thursday it had ensured that disciplinary due course of provisions have been “adopted pretty and appropriately right here.”

The dispatcher instructed The Buffalo Information late final month she was sorry about what the caller went by way of in the course of the capturing, including that extra information would come out on the listening to. A message was left Thursday at a doable cellphone quantity for her.

___

Peltz reported from New York.