Read the Department of Justice rationale for seeking the death penalty against the Buffalo mass shooter
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) – A Department of Justice filing Friday confirmed that the government will seek the death penalty against the Buffalo mass shooter, who murdered 10 people and injured three others in a racist attack at a Tops supermarket in May 2022.
The filing notified the court and lawyers for gunman Payton Gendron that "the United States believes the circumstances ... are such that, in the event of a conviction, a sentence of death is justified."
The entire filing can be viewed below.
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The DOJ said it weighed the following statutory threshold factors:
- Intentional Killing
- Intentional Infliction of Serious Bodily Injury
- Intentional Participation in an Act Resulting in Death
- Intentional Engagement in an Act of Violence, Knowing That the Act Created a Grave Risk of Death to a Person
Additionally, statutory aggravating factors included:
- Grave Risk of Death to Additional Persons
- Substantial Planning and Premeditation
- Vulnerable Victim
- Multiple Killings and Attempted Killings
Non-statutory aggravating factors were:
- Victim Impact
- Injury To Surviving Victims
- Racially-Motivated Killings
- Attempt To Incite Violence
- Selection of Site
Complete coverage on the Buffalo supermarket mass shooting can be found here.