The Federal Bureau of Investigation on Monday is urging members of the public to come forward with information about the deadly shooting at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y., by establishing a website to upload footage.
The goal is “to enable members of the public to send in any video that might help in the investigation,” the FBI said in a statement.
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Payton Gendron, 18, who allegedly shot and killed 10 people in his deadly rampage on Saturday, was motivated by hate, according to authorities. All his victims were Black.
“I want to be clear, for my part, from everything we know, this was a targeted attack, a hate crime, and an act of racially motivated violent extremism,” FBI director Christopher Wray said on a call with faith leaders, civil rights leaders and private sector partners. “While there remain a lot of unknowns, as there always do in an investigation at this stage, what is absolutely certain is that we at the FBI are committed to comprehensively and aggressively investigating Saturday’s attack.”
Wray expressed “deepest condolences” to victims, their families and the Buffalo community for the “despicable attack,” as he called it.
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The tragedy unfolded Saturday afternoon, when Gendron drove up to the supermarket he’d been staking out for months and opened fire in the parking lot before moving inside. Thirteen people were shot in all, 10 of them fatally. Eleven of the victims were Black, and they ranged in age from 20 to 86. Two of the three wounded were white, and the third was Black, authorities said. Police said he didn’t plan to stop there.
As it emerged that the gunman had planned his rampage for months and posted a game plan online at some point before the shooting, Gendron apparently exhorted readers to kill FBI agents as well as those from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, The Associated Press reported.
Tech experts are poring over digital devices and social media accounts connected to Gendron, the FBI said, and that’s where the public comes in.
Anyone with information that might pertain to the shooting and help the investigation simply has to visit the FBI’s newly established webpage, fill out the form and upload their material.
With News Wire Services