It's been a week
They have begun burying the dead in Buffalo, the 10 people who were killed last weekend after a gunman opened fire at a Tops supermarket in the Cold Springs neighborhood.
I covered the mass-shooting for The Wall Street Journal, arriving in Buffalo within hours of the Saturday afternoon attack. Payton Gendron, 18 years old, was charged with first degree murder in connection with the shootings. He has pleaded not guilty.
In a dispatch from Buffalo, my colleagues and I reported that Gendron traveled more than 200 miles from his home in suburban Binghamton to the Tops, which anchors a commercial strip with restaurants and salons. I spoke with Grady Lewis, a 50-year-old who lives in the neighborhood and often hangs out by the Tops, who spoke with Gendron the day before the incident.
Gendron detailed his preparations for the massacre and his embrace of racist conspiracy theories that he said drove him to kill in an online diary that was posted on a public web forum shortly before he opened fire. My colleagues and I used the writings and interviews with Gendron’s neighbors as the basis for a portrait of a mass shooter that has become familiar in recent years: a lone actor, socially isolated and mentally troubled, who finds inspiration to commit mass violence in the recesses of the Internet.
State officials said they would strengthen the state’s “red flag” law and launch an investigation into the role of social-media platforms in promoting and streaming the Buffalo shooting. The state Legislature is scheduled to adjourn its annual session on June 2, so any changes could happen within the next two weeks.
REDISTRICTING: After months of legal wrangling, a state judge late Friday adopted a set of new U.S. House district lines for New York that was cheered by Republicans and creates an open seat in the heart of New York City that has already drawn interest from several Democrats.
Read all about it here. I’m sure I’ll be writing more on this topic in the coming days and weeks.
THE LCA SHOW: After a two-year pandemic hiatus, the Albany press corps is back with its annual musical comedy revue making fun of New York’s political class. It’s Tuesday evening in downtown Albany. You can still buy tickets, and hopefully I’ll see you there!
THE QUESTION: While I was in Binghamton, I went for a morning jog that took me across two rivers. What are they?
Know the answer? Drop me a line at jimmy.vielkind@gmail.com. Or just write with thoughts, feedback or to say hi.
THE LAST ANSWER: Antonio Delgado’s parents worked for General Electric, the company that made Schenectady “The Electric City.”