Buffalo Supermarket Where White Attacker Killed 10 Black People Reopens

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th July, 2022) The Tops supermarket in Buffalo, where a young white gunman targeted and killed ten African Americans two months ago, reopened with a ceremony attended by community members and local officials, including New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Earlier in the day, the Justice Department announced that a Federal grand jury had indicted the gunman, Payton Gendron, on 27 counts of both gun charges and hate crimes allegedly committed during the May 14 shooting rampage in Buffalo. The Justice Department also said the charges in the indictment carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment or the death penalty.

"This is the day when we declare that hate did not win, that hate was defeated, that hate has no place in east Buffalo or Buffalo, or in the great state of New York," James said at the re-dedication ceremony on Thursday as quoted by ABC.

In a tweet later in the day, James said the ceremony honored the lives lost and resilience of the community two months after the "act of racist terror.

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Since the shooter walked into the supermarket with a Bushmaster high-powered weapon and fired at least 60 bullets which gunned down innocent people inside and outside the establishment, the store has undergone extensive renovations. The Jefferson Avenue store was a lifeline for the community as the only store of its kind in a food desert.

Among the activities at the somber event was a prayer service, a moment of silence, the reading of each victim's name and a firefighter ringing a silver bell after each victim's name was read.

Tops president John Persons praised the first responders and police officers who treated the injured and took the 18-year-old shooter into custody.

One of the grand jury's special findings is that the young man expressed intense hatred for Black people and murdered his victims after substantial planning and premeditation to commit an act of terrorism.