'We can't live in fear,' says sheriff of Buffalo massacre 2:20
(CNN) -
US President Joe Biden did not hesitate Tuesday to call the mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, an act of domestic terrorism, condemning the racist ideology of the man accused of perpetrating the massacre.
Online Posts Reveal Alleged Buffalo Shooter Spent Months Planning Racist Supermarket Attack
"White supremacism is poison, it's a poison ... that runs through our body politic," Biden said.
And he added that silence is "complicity."
"And it has been allowed to grow and rot before our eyes. No more, no more. We need to say as clearly and forcefully as we can that the ideology of white supremacy has no place in America. None."
He added that "in America, evil will not win, I promise you. Hate will not prevail. White supremacism will not have the last word. Evil has come to Buffalo and has come to too many places, manifested in gunmen who massacred people innocent people in the name of a hateful and perverse ideology, rooted in fear and racism. It has taken so much from us."
Hours earlier, the president and first lady Jill Biden visited the memorial site for the victims of the shooting, which killed 10 people in an act of violent racism.
They also met with community leaders, first responders and families of victims of the massacre, which police say was motivated by racism and hate.
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The Bidens visited a site that honors victims, where the first lady laid out a bouquet of flowers and they both bowed their heads in a moment of silence.
He was saved from the massacre in Buffalo by going to buy a coffee 2:27
New York Governor Kathy Hochul, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and other officials also laid bouquets at the memorial site.
A while back, Biden mentioned that then-President Donald Trump's reaction to a white nationalist rally and the murder of a counter-protester in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 motivated him to jump into the race for the White House for the third time.
A comment that his assistants highlighted several times before the trip on Tuesday.
The president is also expected to speak about gun violence in the United States during events he is hosting in Buffalo.
Precisely, the nation records at least 198 mass shootings so far in 2022 alone according to the Gun Violence Archive, which, like CNN, defines a mass shooting as four or more people shot, not including the shooter.
Suspect in Buffalo massacre planned to 'go on killing spree' after killing 10 people at supermarket, police reveal
In Buffalo, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday that the Bidens "would seek to comfort the families of the 10 people whose lives were senselessly taken in this horrific shooting. And they will express their gratitude for the bravery of members of law enforcement and other members of security who took immediate action to try to protect and save lives."
Biden will also ask Congress to take legislative action to prohibit people with mental illness from acquiring guns.
Buffalo Massacre: She had just gotten to the store for ice cream with her daughters when people started screaming and running away
Josh Geltzer, deputy national security adviser at the National Security Council, suggested on Tuesday that new executive action on weapons may be on the way, but did not elaborate.
"We have a gun problem in this country," Geltzer told CNN's Kaitlan Collins on "New Day."
“This weekend that was shown, not only in Buffalo, but in other parts of the country.
And so you will hear more from the president about how we will continue to use executive action where we can to try to protect Americans,” he added.
Biden is also expected to address the attacker's racist motives in his comments from Buffalo.
And that in that sense, he asks Americans "to seek a more perfect union that embraces the diversity that has made us the strongest and most dynamic nation in the history of the world," the official said.
ANALYSIS |
The Buffalo massacre further shakes a country insecure by violence
Biden condemned the Buffalo shooting in a statement on Saturday: "Any act of terrorism in the country, including an act perpetrated in the name of a repugnant white nationalist ideology, is antithetical to everything we stand for in America."
“Hate should not have a safe place.
We must do everything in our power to end domestic terrorism fueled by hate,” he continued in the statement.
Buffalo shooting investigated as a hate crime
Anti-Semite and white supremacist, this is how the Buffalo attacker proclaims himself 2:18
Saturday's massacre in Buffalo is the latest high-profile mass shooting in which authorities say the suspect was motivated by hate.
Previous cases of this kind include the massacre at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas;
the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh;
Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina;
and the Pulse nightclub in Orlando.
The 18-year-old man suspected of opening fire at the Tops Friendly Markets store in a predominantly black neighborhood told authorities he aimed to target the black community, according to an official familiar with the investigation.
The defendant traveled from another New York county hours away and livestreamed the attack on the social media platform Twitch.
He had plans to continue his violence and kill more black people, authorities said Monday.
Five hate-motivated massacres, just like the one in Buffalo, authorities say
The suspect, Payton S. Gendron, has pleaded not guilty to one count of murder and the district attorney said he expects to file more charges.
Gendron is being held without bail and on suicide watch.
If he is convicted, he faces a maximum of life in prison without parole.
The US Department of Justice is investigating the mass shooting "as a hate crime and a racially motivated act of violent extremism," according to a statement from US Attorney General Merrick Garland.
The FBI is collaborating in the investigation.
A 180-page document attributed to the shooting suspect, which was posted online before the attack, lays out the alleged shooter's motives and shows the meticulous planning with which the massacre was carried out.
CNN independently obtained the document shortly after the mass shooting, before authorities released the name of the suspect.
And law enforcement sources told CNN that his description of the weapons matches the weapons the suspect used.
Buffalo Jill Biden Joe Biden
