Buffalo mass shooter sentenced to life in prison during emotional hearing

During the sentencing of Payton Gendron, the Buffalo supermarket shooter, families of the victims rushed towards him in a powerful display of emotion. Gendron, a white supremacist, was sentenced to life in prison without parole for his racist attack in which he killed 10 Black people. The sentencing was briefly disrupted when a member of the audience charged towards Gendron, but calm was restored and emotional testimony continued. Gendron, fueled by racist conspiracy theories he encountered online, wore bullet-resistant armor and a helmet equipped with a livestreaming camera as he carried out the attack with a semiautomatic rifle he purchased legally but then modified to load it with illegal high-capacity ammunition magazines. He faces separate federal charges that could carry a death sentence if the U.S. Justice Department chooses to seek it. Gendron pleaded guilty in November to crimes including murder and domestic terrorism motivated by hate.