Key facts
- Jury selection began Tuesday for the federal trial of Payton Gendron.
- Gendron is charged with over two dozen federal hate crime and a dozen firearms charges.
- He is already serving a life sentence for state murder charges.
- The 2022 attack killed 10 Black people and is considered one of the deadliest shootings targeting Black people in modern history.
- Gendron's defense will not dispute guilt but will argue against the death penalty.
- The FBI reported over 2,800 anti-Black hate crime incidents in 2025.
Jury selection commenced Tuesday in the federal trial of Payton Gendron, the white supremacist accused of a 2022 mass shooting at a Buffalo supermarket that killed 10 Black people. Gendron faces over two dozen federal hate crime charges and more than a dozen firearms charges. He is already serving a life sentence for state murder charges.
Gendron drove more than 200 miles from his home in Conklin, New York, to Buffalo on May 14, 2022. Then 18, he opened fire with a semiautomatic rifle at employees and shoppers at a Tops Friendly Markets grocery store, firing approximately 60 shots. Investigators found Gendron's past social media posts and writings indicated he planned the attack to intimidate non-white and non-Christian individuals and promoted the baseless "great replacement theory."
The victims, aged 32 to 86, were all Black. Survivors, including Zeneta Everhart's son Zaire, have had their lives significantly altered by the event. While some victims' families are open to the death penalty, Gendron's defense team stated they will not dispute his guilt but will present mitigating evidence to argue against execution, emphasizing that he will die in prison regardless.