Buffalo shooting suspect pleads not guilty

Payton Gendron, 18, has been held without bail on suspicion of using a semiautomatic rifle to target black shoppers and employees of a Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo, N.Y., on May 14. Ten people, ages 32 to 86, died in the shooting. One victim was picking up his 3-year-old son’s birthday cake. Another grandmother was running errands after visiting her husband in a nursing home. On Wednesday, a grand jury indicted Gendron on a domestic terrorism charge that carries a life sentence, along with 10 counts of first-degree murder, 10 counts of second-degree murder as a hate crime, criminal possession of a weapon, and three counts of attempted murder as a hate crime.

Will New York tighten gun laws? Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Tuesday that 10 gun control bills have been introduced in both the state Assembly and Senate. The bills would require more information sharing between agencies, a license and a minimum age of 21 to purchase a semiautomatic rifle, strengthened red flag laws, and increased accountability for social media platforms, among other things. 

Dig deeper: Read Harvest Prude’s article in The Stew on negotiations over gun control laws after a 2019 shooting in Texas.