The teen shooter behind the horror mass shooting in Buffalo that left 10 Black people dead has been sentenced to life without parole.
The court heard how Payton Gendron, now 19, traveled to Tops Friendly Market in New York state on May 14 while armed with a gun to carry out the racially motivated attack.
Gendron pleaded guilty to a total of 25 charges, including first-degree murder and terrorism motivated by hate.
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Ahead of his sentencing on Wednesday (February 15), a family member of one of the victims tried to rush at the teen gunman.
Security thwarted their attempt to lunge at the 19-year-old in the nick of time.
As per AP, prosecutors have now revealed the man who lunged at Gendron would not be charged.
The sentencing hearing continued, with family members who had lost loved ones shared their grief.
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Survivors also recounted the horrendous day that Gendron drove 120 miles (200 kilometers) from his majority white home to their Black community town with the express aim to carry out a racially motivated hate crime.
Some read out quotes from the bible, while others revealed they were praying for the teen killer.
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Barbara Massey, who lost her sister Katherine in the deadly rampage, said to Gendron as per the BBC: "You are going to come to our city and decide you don't like Black people.
"Man, you don't know a [...] thing about Black people. We're human,"
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Zaire Goodman now suffers from survivor's guilt, his mother told the courtroom.
"He is dealing with the pain that I as a mother cannot bear," Zeneta Everhart said, via the BBC.
"On that day this terrorist made the choice that the value of a Black human meant nothing to him… whatever the sentence is that [the gunman] receives, it will never be enough."
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Tamika Harper, niece of victim Geraldine Talley, said she hoped Gendron would pray for his own forgiveness.
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"Do I hate you? No. Do I want you to die? No. I want you to stay alive. I want you to think about this every day of your life,” she said, speaking gently, AP reported.
"Think about my family and the other nine families that you’ve destroyed forever.
All of the 10 people killed were Black. Three others were wounded in the attack.
The 19-year-old cried during some of the testimony from families and victims, AP reports.
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Gendron pleaded guilty in November to a raft of crimes including murder and domestic terrorism motivated by hate, a charge that carried an automatic life sentence.
"There can be no mercy for you, no understanding, no second chances," Judge Susan Eagan said as she sentenced him, as per AP.
Rachel Lang