Police officials said that new details reveal the Buffalo shooting suspect's scary history as the alleged mass shooter was hospitalized and had a health evaluation in 2021 after he made a "generalized threat."
The suspect, identified as 18-year-old Payton Gendron, is from Conklin, New York, and was admitted to the hospital for a mental health evaluation for one and a half days in June 2021. The procedure was done because he made a general threat in his hometown, said Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia.
Buffalo Mass Shooting
A New York State Police spokesperson said that troopers responded to reports from Susquehanna High School in Conklin, New York. They were tasked with investigating a report that a 17-year-old student made a threatening statement. However, the spokesperson did not identify the suspect by name and said that there was no target associated with the threat.
During Sunday's press conference, Gramaglia said that the state police responded, investigated, and interviewed the suspect. He noted that the personnel felt it was appropriate at that time to have that individual brought in for mental health evaluation, as per Fox News.
Later on, the police commissioner added that the suspect was evaluated and was subsequently released. Gramaglia said that the student was placed "on the radar" and noted that there was nothing picked up on the state police intelligence or the FBI intelligence.
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The Buffalo mass shooting resulted in the death of 10 people and the injury of three others, most of whom were Black. Officials said that they were currently looking into the possibility that the attack was a racially-motivated hate crime.
According to the Associated Press, the suspect was wearing body armor and live streaming the attack with a helmet camera. He is believed to have opened fire at around 2:30 p.m. Saturday outside Tops Friendly Market. It was a supermarket that was located in a predominantly Black neighborhood of Buffalo.
Live Stream of the Incident
The gunman was found to have live-streamed the shooting to a small audience on Twitch for several minutes before the platform took down his feed. The police said that the mass shooter began firing in the parking lot of the supermarket and later moved into the store.
In response, security guard Aaron Salter fired multiple shots back at the suspect but none of them penetrated the body armor. The gunman then shot and killed Salter, who was Black and then stalked customers through the aisles, shooting them down.
At one point during the incident, he trained his weapon on a white person who was cowering behind a checkout counter and said, "Sorry!" and did not shoot. The particular moment was seen in portions of the live stream video that circulated online.
Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said at the news conference that the shooter traveled hours from outside the community to perpetrate the crime. He noted that the shooting was done on a day when residents in the area were enjoying the sunshine, enjoying family, and enjoying friends. Brown said that people's lives were snuffed out in an instant for no reason, CNN reported.
