Anti-Semite and white supremacist, this is how the Buffalo attacker proclaims himself 2:18
(CNN) --
Social media posts from the 18-year-old white man suspected of shooting and killing 10 people at a Buffalo supermarket on Saturday reveal that he had been planning his attack for months.
Alleged shooter Payton S. Gendron of Conklin, New York, shared on the Discord chat app and online forum 4chan that he selected a particular ZIP code in Buffalo because it had the highest percentage of black population close enough to where he lived. .
Police and other officials have described the mass shooting as a hate crime.
In his posts, the suspect said he visited Tops Friendly Market three times on March 8 to inspect the layout, as well as at times of the day when there were more customers.
He planned his attack for mid-March, the posts say, but pushed the date back several times.
The suspected attacker was arrested immediately after the massacre and is on suicide watch after pleading not guilty to murder charges, according to authorities.
Former classmates of Buffalo shooting suspect describe him as 'lonely, but quiet'
He was saved from the massacre in Buffalo by going to buy a coffee 2:27
These are the latest events.
The suspect visited a supermarket the day before the attack
Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said the suspect was at the Tops Friendly Market the day before the shooting "reconnaissance."
He, too, was there in early March, Gramaglia said.
The attack would have continued elsewhere if the suspect had not been arrested.
The suspect had other "target locations" down the street, according to Erie County Sheriff John Garcia.
Authorities found another rifle and a shotgun in his vehicle, Garcia said, who attributed the quick arrival of two police officers to preventing further attacks.
There was writing on the suspect's firearms
CNN obtained a photo of two of the firearms inside the suspected shooter's vehicle that were not used in the shooting.
Writing is seen on the weapons, including the phrase "White Lives Matter," as well as what appears to be the name of a victim of a crime committed by a black suspect.
Video shows gunman apologizing, sparing one person's life
Video obtained by CNN and filmed during the shooting shows the gunman pointing his gun at a man who is huddled on the ground near what appears to be a cash register.
The man yells "No", and the shooter then says "Sorry", turns and walks away.
The video ends at this point and it is unknown what happened next.
It is unclear why the man appeared to be spared or why the attacker apologized.
The Buffalo massacre puts the focus on a web full of hate messages
Governor of New York speaks about the posts of the 4:53 suspect
The family did not visit the suspect in jail
Investigators spoke with the suspect's family and described them as "distressed" and "sick" over what happened, Sheriff Garcia said.
The alleged attacker met with his legal team while he was in custody, he said, but there have been no requests from relatives to visit him.
Federal charges may apply in the shooting
Federal prosecutors are working to file charges against the suspect in the coming days, law enforcement officials say, in addition to the state charges.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said Saturday that the Justice Department was investigating the attack as a "hate crime and a racially motivated act of violent extremism."
Biden will visit the site of the massacre
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden are scheduled to visit Buffalo on Tuesday and meet with the families of the shooting victims, first responders and community leaders.
The suspect would have shared racist beliefs
Since the shooting, officials have looked at what they say was the suspect's racist intent and history.
"We continue to investigate this case as a hate crime, a federal hate crime, and as a crime perpetrated by a racially motivated violent extremist," Stephen Belongia, special agent in charge of the FBI's Buffalo field office, said Sunday. at a press conference.
The massacre follows other mass shootings in recent years in which authorities say suspected white supremacists were motivated by racial hatred.
This would be the case in other attacks such as in El Paso, Texas;
Charleston, South Carolina, and even in Norway and New Zealand.
In a 180-page tirade linked to the suspect, he said he subscribed to the "great replacement" theory, or the false belief that white Americans are being "replaced" by people of other races.
The replacement theory, once a fringe idea, has recently become a talking point for Fox News host Tucker Carlson, as well as other prominent conservatives.
A year ago, the suspect landed on police radar as a student at Susquehanna Valley High School, authorities said.
He made a "sinister" reference to the murder-suicide through a virtual learning platform in June, the Susquehanna Valley Central School District said Monday.
Although the threat was not specific and did not involve other students, the instructor immediately informed an administrator who escalated the matter to the New York State Police, a spokesperson told CNN, adding that the law limits what they can say. more school officials.
Suspect in Buffalo massacre planned to 'go on killing spree' after killing 10 people at supermarket, police reveal
Witness describes how he experienced the shooting in a Buffalo supermarket 1:04
The community mourns the loss of their loved ones
The 10 people killed on Saturday were between the ages of 32 and 86, police said, including a former police officer who tried to stop the attacker and several people doing their regular grocery shopping.
Of the 13 people shot, authorities say, 11 were black.
Sadness and frustration were still palpable among many who came to the supermarket to pay their respects and show their support.
"We're a community in Buffalo. If you're a black and brown person, you know someone affected," said Phylicia Dove, a local business owner and activist.
“This is the impact of white supremacy.
This was not a mental health case, this is someone who attacked an impoverished community heavily concentrated in poor blacks and caught us at our most vulnerable."
"I feel more insulted than anything," resident Darius Morgan, who was born and raised in Buffalo, told CNN.
Morgan said of the gunman: "How dare you come here? How dare you take this from us? We grew up here, this is our house, they came in and destroyed it."
New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced $2.8 million in funding for the victims and their families, according to a statement from her office.
GoFundMe also compiled a list of verified fundraisers dedicated to helping after the tragedy.
-- CNN's Artemis Moshtaghian, Nicki Brown, Laura Ly, Jenn Selva, Victor Blackwell, Amanda Watts, David Williams, Jamiel Lynch, Shimon Prokupecz, Evan Perez, Eric Levenson, Holly Yan, Steve Almasy and Jon Passantino contributed to this report.
