By Steve Neavling
The mass shooting that killed 10 Black people in a Buffalo grocery store was “an act of racially motivated violent extremism,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said Monday.
Wray made the remarks in a conference call with faith leaders and civil rights leaders.
“I want to be clear, for my part, from everything we know, this was a targeted attack, a hate crime, and an act of racially motivated violent extremism,” Wray said. “While there remain a lot of unknowns, as there always do in an investigation at this stage, what is absolutely certain is that we at the FBI are committed to comprehensively and aggressively investigating Saturday’s attack.”
The bureau’s Buffalo Field Office responded immediately to the shooting, and FBI headquarters, the Laboratory in Quantico, and other field offices have been providing additional resources. The FBI’s Counterterrorism and Criminal Investigative Divisions are also providing assistance.
In addition, the FBI created a web page for the public to upload videos of the shooting or suspect.
The suspect, Payton Gendron, 18, wrote extensively online about his intentions to kill Black people.
