Ten people were killed and another three wounded when a mass shooting erupted at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, that authorities allege was a "racially motivated hate crime" carried out by a heavily armed white teenager who fired a barrage of 50 shots outside and inside the market. An 18-year-old male suspect is in custody, police said. The shooter livestreamed the Saturday afternoon attack on social media and etched the names of previous mass shooters and racial epithets on the gun he allegedly used to carry out the attack, a source familiar with the investigation told ABC News.
The gunman, wearing military fatigues, body armor and a tactical helmet, shot four people in the parking lot of a Tops supermarket around 2:30 p.m., three fatally. He proceeded inside the store where he was confronted by a retired Buffalo police officer working security, police said. The gunman then proceeded to shoot nine more people inside the store, police said. Erie County Sheriff John Garcia said at a news conference Sunday that the suspect is being held in isolation under suicide watch. All 10 victims who died in the attack are Black–six females and four males ranging from age 32 to 86, law enforcement officials said. One of the wounded victims was Black while the two others were white, officials said. The three survivors were hospitalized with non-life-threatening gunshot wounds, authorities said. Four of the shooting victims were store employees while the rest were customers, authorities said. The Buffalo police officer working security was among those killed, according to a law enforcement official. He was identified as Aaron Salter Jr. by Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown. Gramaglia said the evidence collected so far indicates "this is an absolute racist hate crime."
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