Payton Gendron on trial in federal Buffalo supermarket shooting case

Payton Gendron faces jury selection Tuesday in a Buffalo federal court on hate crime and firearms charges. The federal government is seeking the death penalty for the 2022 mass shooting that killed 10 people.

Gendron is already serving life in prison without parole. He pleaded guilty to state murder charges in 2023. His defense attorneys stated they will not dispute his guilt in the federal trial.

Defense lawyers seek to prevent an execution. The federal public defender office issued a statement outlining its strategy.

“Nothing will change the fact that Payton Gendron will die in prison. At trial, we will offer mitigating evidence about Payton that the jury needs to consider in making its decision. Nothing we say or do is intended to be disrespectful or insensitive to the victims, the survivors, or their loved ones.”

The U.S. Justice Department rejected a defense offer to plead guilty in exchange for life in prison. In 2024, the department chose to seek capital punishment. Then-Attorney General Merrick Garland oversaw that capital decision.

The deadly attack occurred at Tops Friendly Market on May 14, 2022. Gendron drove over 200 miles from Conklin to the East Side neighborhood. He fired roughly 60 rounds from a semiautomatic rifle.

All 10 people killed during the market attack were Black. The victims were:

• Celestine Chaney
• Roberta Drury
• Andre Mackneil
• Katherine Massey
• Margus Morrison
• Heyward Patterson
• Aaron Salter
• Geraldine Talley
• Ruth Whitfield
• Pearl Young

Salter was a retired Buffalo police officer working as a security guard. The victims ranged in age from 32 to 86. Three other people survived their injuries.

Investigators found online writings where Gendron planned an attack to frighten non-white and non-Christian people. He also promoted a replacement theory online. Video showed he apologized to a white store worker after shooting him.

Victims’ families hold differing opinions regarding capital punishment. Wayne Jones, whose mother Chaney died, plans to attend the proceedings. He opposes an execution.

“I really think that he should just sit and have to think about it year after year after year and just be miserable,” Jones said. “When I was younger, I probably was more prone to say ‘kill him.’ But, at this point, I mean, he’s still got well another 20-30 years of appeals.”

Buffalo Common Council member Zeneta Everhart supports capital punishment for the shooter. Her son, Zaire, survived being shot in the neck.

“This isn’t a shooting over a robbery or a domestic violence situation. This is domestic terrorism,” Everhart said. “It is important we go after the death penalty in this case. But if he doesn’t end up getting it, I know that justice will be served.”

Garnell Whitfield, whose mother Ruth died, takes no stance on the sentence. He wants the trial to explain how the gunman was radicalized online.

“Those are the things that I care about,” Whitfield said. He spent four years working with church and civil groups to counter racial violence.

Hate crime analyst Brian Levin said Black people remain the most frequent target in federal bias data. Levin works with the California Association of Human Relations Organizations. FBI records showed more than 2,800 anti-Black hate crimes reported nationwide in 2025.

“Unfortunately, he (Gendron) fits the pattern of young, mostly white males undertaking targeted massacres which are then justified by manifestos, which are also part of a continuing chain that references prior attacks often but seeks to encourage future ones,” Levin said.

A federal capital trial divides into a guilt phase and a penalty phase. Jurors must decide whether a defendant committed the charged offenses. Jurors then determine whether to impose capital punishment or life in prison.

Jury selection in Buffalo will run through multiple rounds of questioning.