Payton Gendron, the 19-year-old gunman who killed 10 Black people in a racially-motivated supermarket shooting last spring, was on Wednesday sentenced to life in prison without parole following what The New York Times described as an "emotional and dramatic hearing."
Proceedings were interrupted twice: once after a man lunged at Gendron, and again when "a member of the audience began screaming and cursing" at the defendant as he issued a brief apology, per the Times.
Before hearing his sentence, Gendron was confronted by the family members of his victims, who denounced him as a "cowardly racist" and a "weak human."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"The world says you have to forgive in order to move on," said Zeneta Everhart, whose son was injured but survived. "But I stand before you today to say that will never happen."
"We are extremely aware that you are not a lone wolf, but a part of a larger organized network of domestic terrorists," added Simone Crowley, whose grandmother was killed in the attack. "And to that network, we say we as a people are unbreakable."
Gendron carefully plotted the devastating May shooting for months, after having bought into white supremacist and antisemitic ideology online, and purposely chose to target a Tops supermarket in a predominantly Black neighborhood of Buffalo. He even went so far as to live-stream the incident on social media.
The 19-year-old later pleaded guilty to state murder and domestic terrorism charges in November, but "still faces federal hate crime and firearm charges that could make him eligible for capital punishment," per The Washington Post. A decision on the matter is still forthcoming.
"There is no place for you and your ignorant, hateful ideology. There can be no mercy for you. No understanding. No second chances," Judge Susan Eagan told the defendant on Wednesday. "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."
-
‘The worry is far from fanciful’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
How are Americans bracing for the end of SNAP?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION Millions depend on supplemental federal food funds that are set to expire this month, as the government shutdown begins to be acutely felt
-
Book review: ‘Joyride: A Memoir’Feature A journalist’s story of how she chased and accomplished her dreams
-
France makes first arrests in Louvre jewels heistSpeed Read Two suspects were arrested in connection with the daytime theft of royal jewels from the museum
-
Trump pardons crypto titan who enriched familySpeed Read Binance founder Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty in 2023 to enabling money laundering while CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange
-
Thieves nab French crown jewels from LouvreSpeed Read A gang of thieves stole 19th century royal jewels from the Paris museum’s Galerie d’Apollon
-
Arsonist who attacked Shapiro gets 25-50 yearsSpeed Read Cody Balmer broke into the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion and tried to burn it down
-
Man charged over LA’s deadly Palisades Firespeed read 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht has been arrested in connection with the fire that killed 12 people
-
4 dead in shooting, arson attack in Michigan churchSpeed Read A gunman drove a pickup truck into a Mormon church where he shot at congregants and then set the building on fire
-
3 officers killed in Pennsylvania shootingSpeed Read Police did not share the identities of the officers or the slain suspect, nor the motive or the focus of the still-active investigation
-
Colleges are being overwhelmed with active shooter hoaxesIn the Spotlight More than a dozen colleges have reported active shooter prank calls
