Buffalo mass shooting latest: Biden arrives to visit grieving community as suspect Payton Gendron’s family blames Covid paranoia

US President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrived in Buffalo, New York on Tuesday to meet with community leaders and the families of victims of the mass shooting that killed 10 people and wounded three.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said earlier this week that the couple will be in the city to “comfort the families of the 10 people whose lives were senselessly taken in this horrific shooting. And they will express gratitude for the bravery of members of law enforcement and other law enforcement members who took immediate action to try and protect and save lives”.

The US president is expected to deliver remarks at 1pm ET.

CNN anchor Victor Blackwell was unable to hold back tears as he reported live from outside the supermarket in Buffalo, New York, where 10 people were killed in a racial massacre.

Blackwell choked up and broke down after he talked to one of the eyewitnesses of the shooting who said she had taught her daughter to “become small and invisible” while preparing her for such incidents in the past.

“I’ve done 15 of these. At least the ones I can count,” Blackwell said to his colleague Alisyn Camerota back in the studio.

“And we keep having the conversation about Democrats will say guns, Republicans will say mental health and nothing will change. And I’ll probably do another one this year,” he added, his voice shaking.

Continue reading the full story from The Independent below.

If the Buffalo supermarket shooter had learned anything from the massacre in New Zealand that apparently inspired him, it should have been that the violence didn’t achieve any of the gunman’s aims, a survivor said Tuesday.

Temel Atacocugu was shot nine times when a white supremacist opened fire during Friday prayers at two mosques in Christchurch three years ago, killing 51 worshippers and severely injuring dozens more. Mr Atacocugu continues to recover from the gunshot wounds in his mouth, left arm and both legs.

One of the stated aims of the Christchurch gunman was to sow discord between racial and ethnic groups, eventually forcing nonwhite people to leave. But if anything, the opposite happened as Muslims and non-Muslims embraced each other in a shared and enduring grief.

“Violence does not solve the problem. They should see that. People, including the extremists, should see that violence does not fix anything,” he said. “Peace will fix it. They have to learn to talk with people around them, too.”

Continue reading the full story on The Independent below.

London mayor Sadiq Khan was named by Buffalo shooting suspect Payton Gendron on a list of enemies he wanted dead.

Gendron, 18, is accused of shooting dead 10 people at a supermarket in the US city in New York state on Saturday.

Read the full story here:

The 10 individuals killed by a white supremacist during a mass shooting at a Tops grocery store in Buffalo have been identified, including Andre Mackniel, who was picking up a cake for his grandson’s birthday.

Mr Mackneil had travelled 120 miles from his home to be present for his grandson’s birthday when he was targetted by a white supremacist mass shooter at the grocery store.

Read the full story by Graig Graziosi here:

The Arizona Senate on Monday opened an ethics investigation into a Republican member who tweeted inflammatory comments about last weekend’s racist attack at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket that left 10 people dead.

Read the full story here:

Family of the Buffalo supermarket gunman has said that the teen snapped because of the “paranoia and isolation” of the Covid pandemic.

In an interview with the New York Post, relatives confessed that they had no idea that 18-year-old Payton Gendron was an alleged white supremacist. They also said that the teen needed help after threatening his classmates almost a year ago.

“I have no idea how he could have gotten caught up in this. I blame it on Covid,’’ Sandra Komoroff, 68, a cousin of Mr Gendron’s mom Pamela was quoted as saying.

“He was very paranoid about getting Covid, extremely paranoid, to the point that — his friends were saying — he would wear the hazmat suit [to school],” she said.

She added that Mr Gendron had “bought into the fear of Covid.”

ICYMI: During my research, I found that the underlying feelings drawing people to extreme movements were similar, regardless of whether the person was a Norwegian women recruited into a Marxist cult in the 1980s or a British schoolboy lured to fight for Islamists in Syria in 2014, writes Charlotte McDonald-Gibson.

The gunman who killed 10 people in a supermarket in Buffalo last week intended to target a second store on Saturday if he had not been stopped, police said.

Buffalo police chief JosephGramaglia told local media that there was evidence to suggest the gunman wanted to target a second store on Saturday if he had not been stopped.

Of the 13 people shot, 11 were Black.

ICYMI: In a statement on Monday, Tops Friendly Markets thanked members of the local community and law enforcement for their efforts over the weekend, when 10 people were shot dead and three others wounded by a gunman.

The chain, who said the tragedy will not change its commitment to the predominantly Black neighbourhood around the store where the shooting happened, also announced a series of iniaitives to help locals

A shuttle bus bill run to the nearest Tops store, the company said, and food and supplies will also be made available via the city’s Resource Council, a charity.

The Jefferson Avenue Tops supermarket is expected to remain closed “until further notice” as the investigation into the deadly shooting continues.