The teen accused of Saturday’s Buffalo supermarket attack once threatened to shoot his high school classmates but was still able to buy three firearms legally, reports and sources said.
According to The Buffalo News, 18-year-old Peyton Gendron of Conklin, New York, began a state police investigation last year in Broome County, which sent him for a mental health evaluation and counseling.
A government official familiar with the matter told the newspaper: “A school official reported that this very upset young man had made a statement that he wanted to do a shooting, either at the graduation ceremony, or sometime after.”
In tactical gear, Gendron opened fire on Saturday afternoon at a Top Friendly market in a predominantly black neighborhood, officials said. The white teenager allegedly killed 10 people and injured three others. Eleven of the victims were black.
Officials told the local newspaper that the semi-automatic rifle used to commit the massacre had the “N-word” painted on the barrel, as well as the number 14.
The number refers to a 14-word statement allegedly attributed to a white supremacist terror organization.
“We must secure the survival of our people and the future of white people,” the statement said.
In addition to the semi-automatic weapon, Gendron also had a hunting rifle and a shotgun, which were recently purchased legally, law enforcement sources told The Post.
Reportedly, Gendron attended SUNY Broome Community College but was no longer enrolled.
Officers alleged that he had driven about 210 miles in his parents’ car to commit the torture.
A manifesto allegedly penned by the suspect said he began planning the attack in January after being radicalized with racial hatred online.