OAN Roy Francis
1:53 PM PT – Wednesday, February 15, 2023
Payton Gendron, the man responsible for the killing 10 black people and injuring three others in a shooting at a Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo, New York, on May 14, 2022, was officially sentenced today.
The 19-year-old was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the shooting. As the sentencing was handed down, Judge Susan Eagan addressed Gendron denouncing him and his ideologies.
“There is no place for you and your ignorant, hateful ideology. There can be no mercy for you. No understanding. No second chances,” Eagan said. “The damage you have caused is too great. And the people you have hurt are too valuable to this community. You will never see the light of day as a free man ever again.”
After receiving the sentencing, the 19-year-old delivered his statement.
“I did a terrible thing that day. I shot and killed people because they were Black,” he said. “Looking back now, I can’t believe I did it.”
Someone was heard yelling “You don’t mean none of that!” as the 19-year-old delivered his statement, who went on to express that he does not want anyone else to be inspired by his actions.
After the sentencing, families of victims were given the opportunity to address the court and the shooter himself, including Barbara Massey, the sister of Katherine Massey who was one of the victims of the shooting.
“I want personally to choke you,” Massey said. “My sister Katherine Massey was a great person. Kat didn’t hurt anybody.”
While Massey delivered her statement, an unidentified man stood up behind her and addressed the shooter as well.
“You are going to come to our city and decide you don’t like Black people,” the man said. “Man, you don’t know a d— thing about Black people. We’re human.”
The man then proceeded to move Massey aside and lunge at Gendron. Lawyers and officers intercepted and restrained the man, preventing him from reaching the 19-year-old. Meanwhile three other officers escorted the shooter from the courtroom.
After a brief pause, the hearing was resumed with the judge addressing the situation.
“I am sure that you are all disturbed by the physicality that we’ve seen in the courtroom here today. And then I understand that emotion, and I understand the anger, but we cannot have that in the courtroom,” 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. But we must conduct ourselves appropriately because are all better than that.”
Court officers were instructed to not press charges against the man who had charged after Gendron.
On Thursday, Gendron will be transferred to federal custody where he will face prosecution for federal hate crimes. If the death penalty is not pursued during the federal hearing, then the decision on where he will serve out his sentence will be made.
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