Man rushes at Buffalo mass shooter during sentencing hearing
A man lunged at Payton Gendron, who pleaded guilty in the mass shooting at a Buffalo, New York, grocery store, during a Wednesday sentencing hearing.
A man was escorted out of the Erie County Courthouse in New York on Wednesday after rushing at Buffalo mass shooter Payton Gendron during his sentencing hearing.
Barbara Massey, whose sister Katherine Massey was among the 10 victims killed in the May 2022 attack, was delivering an emotional victim impact statement when a man dressed in gray clothing lunged at Gendron, forcing authorities to intervene. Gendron later was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
"I want personally to choke you," Massey said at one point during her statement.
"My sister Katherine Massey was a great person. Kat didn't hurt anybody," Massey told the court as an unidentified man in gray clothing walked up and started standing behind her. "You are going to come to our city and decide you don't like Black people. Man, you don't know a d--- thing about Black people. We're human."
Court officers intervene after Buffalo mass shooter Payton Gendron is confronted in Erie County Court in New York on Wednesday. (POOL)
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The man then grabbed Massey's shoulder and pushed her aside as he lunged at Gendron and his attorneys.
"Don't do it!" a voice is heard shouting as the room erupted in chaos and court officers entered the fray.
Gendron is seen being rushed out of the courtroom. (POOL)
Gendron was seen being rushed out of the courtroom as court officers restrained the individual.
"You don’t know what we’re going through," the man shouted in the courtroom as he was led away by officers, according to The Associated Press.
Prior to the statement, Gendron was pictured weeping as family members of the victims read their statements, with one calling him a "cowardly racist."
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Gendron, who is White, killed 10 Black people and wounded three others in a hate-fueled mass shooting at a Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo on May 14, 2022.
After a pause, the sentencing hearing picked back up again with Gendron being escorted back into the courtroom.
"I am sure that you are all disturbed by the physicality that we've seen in the courtroom here today. I understand that emotion, and I understand the anger, but we cannot have that in the courtroom," Judge Susan Eagan said.
"And I am prepared to give anyone that needs to speak an opportunity to speak. And I know that you need to address some of your comments to the defendant," she added. "But we must conduct ourselves appropriately because we are all better than that."
Erie County District Attorney John Flynn said he instructed court officers to not press charges against the man for going after Gendron.
Gendron, he added, will probably be transferred Thursday to federal custody for prosecution for federal hate crimes. If federal prosecutors don't pursue the death penalty, a decision will be made where Gendron will serve out his sentence, he also said.
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Gendron, speaking before the court Wednesday, said, "I did a terrible thing that day."
"I shot and killed people because they were Black. Looking back now, I can't believe I actually did it," he said just prior to being sentenced. "I believed what I read online and acted out of hate. I know I can't take it back. But I wish I could. And I don't want anyone to be inspired by me and what I did."
Fox News' Laura Prabucki contributed to this report.
