The Buffalo supermarket killer says he was driven to killing by the “grand replacement theory,” which claims whites are being driven to extinction by migrants.
Payton Gendron’s 180-page Google Drive document details his twisted reasons for Saturday’s massacre at the Top Market supermarket, which killed 10 people.
Much of the manifesto focused on the “grand replacement theory”. IT claims whites are intentionally outnumbered in the US by migrants from other countries to skew elections in favor of Democrats.
Gendron said he chose the New York state store because it’s in the 14208 ZIP code, which he says has “the highest percentage of blacks anywhere near where I live.”
He included a rudimentary map of the store but didn’t name it before the shooting and said he didn’t want to tip anyone should his manifesto get into the hands of law enforcement.
The manifesto said he was completely radicalized by the internet – and not by anyone he met in real life – adding that he was inspired by Brenton Tarrant.
Tarrant is a white supremacist who live-streamed himself murdering 51 Muslims at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019.
Gendron said: “The truth is my personal life and experiences are worthless.”
Payton Gendron, pictured in court on Saturday, released a chilling 180-page manifesto detailing his racism and anti-Semitism before he murdered 10 at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York
Gendron listed his main inspiration as New Zealand mosque killer Brenton Tarrant, who live-streamed himself murdering 51 Muslims in 2019
Gendron also cited black church mass murderer Dylan Roof (left) and Norwegian racial hate murderer Anders Breivik (right) as inspirations
Gendron said Tarrant “radicalized him the most” while speaking about what led him to shoot 13 people, 10 of whom were fatal.
White mass murderer Dylann Roof, who killed nine black believers in a church in South Carolina in 2015, was also cited as an inspiration in the manifesto.
Norwegian killer Anders Breivik – who massacred 77 people in 2011 – was also cited by Gendron as an inspiration.
Police said eleven of those he shot were black and the other two were white.
Like Tarrant, Gendron live streamed his massacre. Tarrant used Facebook Live while Gendron used the streaming service Twitch.
It is most popular among video gamers as Twitch removes Gendron’s video less than two minutes after uploading it.
A Twitch spokesman said they were “devastated” that their platform had been used.
The Google document containing Gendron’s manifesto remained online for several hours.
It was later removed after Google said its content violated the web giant’s terms of service.
Screenshots of its content remain online.
This includes hundreds of racist memes and hits on liberal publications that Gendron deemed offensive to his beliefs.
Gendron’s manifest has been removed, and anyone who clicks a link to it shows this message that it violated Google’s terms of service
Gendron, pictured before the massacre, said he was radicalized by the internet and chose his destination because it had the highest black population, who was relatively close to him
And while the manifesto is widely believed to be authentic, Gendron used a fake photo to identify himself.
The snap he uploaded and claimed was actually that of comedian Sam Hyde.
This image of Hyde posing outdoors and holding an assault rifle has been used repeatedly to misidentify fellow mass shooters.
It is unclear whether Gendron used Hyde’s image in his own manifesto in a twisted attempt at humor.
Two victims have been identified so far, both black. Grandmother Ruth Whitfield, 86, was gunned down while buying eggs. And store security guard Aaron Salter, a father of three, was killed after opening fire on Gendron.
Salter did so after witnessing Gendron shooting other shoppers, but the teenage killer had worn enough body armor to protect himself from Salter’s bullets.
In his manifesto, Gendron addressed his hatred of blacks, Jews, leftists and transgender people.
He also offered biographical details of his worldly life, saying he grew up in Conklin, New York, about three and a half hours from Buffalo.
Gendron added, “I have never been diagnosed with an intellectual disability or disorder,” he wrote. I think I’m perfectly healthy.’
The killer was arrested after leaving the supermarket and will be brought to trial on Saturday night.
He has so far been charged with first-degree murder, although more charges will follow.
Gendron spoke only to confirm he understood the charges, which his attorney said he would deny.
And this despite the fact that he declared in his manifesto that he would plead guilty to his crimes.
Gendron also likely faces federal hate crime and terrorism charges that could see him executed.