During victim impact statements at Buffalo, N.Y., mass shooter Payton Gendron’s sentencing in court, a man lunged at Gendron, causing mayhem in the courtroom.
“While Katherine Massey’s sister Barbara was speaking, a man came in behind her and ran at Gendron. Massey was giving an emotional statement, yelling and using explicit language towards Gendron while talking about her sister, who was one of 10 people killed during the mass shooting at the Tops on Jefferson Avenue on May 14,” reports WIVB in Buffalo. “Barbara Massey was the 6th of 17 people expected to speak at Wednesday’s hearing.”
“Shortly before, Gendron was seen sobbing during the impact statements,” the report continued. “The man did not make it to Gendron and was stopped by several officers before he could get there. Gendron was immediately removed from the courtroom and Judge Susan Eagan also left the courtroom.”
#BREAKING: A man charged at the Buffalo mass shooter during his sentencing and was stopped by officers and ushered out of the courtroom. The incident happened while Barbara Massey, the sister of shooting victim Kat Massey, was speaking. Live coverage: https://t.co/QlrGwOsS1c pic.twitter.com/kAkZUaBr6o
— News 4 Buffalo (@news4buffalo) February 15, 2023
“I understand that emotion and I understand that anger, but we cannot have that in the courtroom,” Judge Eagan said when the proceedings resumed ten minutes later. “I am prepared to give anyone that needs to speak an opportunity to speak and I know that you need to address some of your comments to the defendant, but we must conduct ourselves appropriately, because we are all better than that.”
Related: Here’s What the Buffalo Shooter’s Alleged Manifesto Actually Says
The Tops supermarket where Gendron committed his crime is located in a predominantly black neighborhood of Buffalo, and all of his victims were black. Prior to the shooting, he posted a 180-page manifesto online explaining what drove him to do what he did. While the mainstream media attempted to link Gendron’s actions to right-wing extremism, according to Gendron’s manifesto, he describes himself as a former communist who now falls in the “mild-moderate authoritarian left category.”
“I would prefer to call myself a populist. But you can call me an ethno-nationalist eco-fascist national socialist if you want, I wouldn’t disagree with you.” He also repeatedly attacked capitalists and rejected the conservative label because, he wrote, “conservativism is corporatism in disguise, I want no part of it.”
Gendron was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty.
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