Buffalo mass shooting: Biden visits Tops supermarket memorial, paying respect to victims

Michael Cole lives just blocks away from the Tops Friendly Market targeted in what the FBI calls a "racially motivated" hate crime attack. He said his aunt and cousin were inside during the massacre. Inset: Suspected killer Payton Gendron, who authorities said streamed the attack over Twitch and posted a hate-filled screed online. (Michael Ruiz/Fox News Digital, Inset: Erie County District Attorney)

BUFFALO, N.Y. – A Buffalo teen is calling on Americans to "come together" and "build each other up" in the wake of a hate-fueled mass shooting just blocks away from his home, which left 10 people dead and three more wounded.

President Biden visited the community Tuesday to condemn White supremacy after police arrested Payton Gendron, an 18-year-old from hundreds of miles away, in what FBI Director Christopher Wray is calling "a hate crime and an act of racially motivated violent extremism."

To read more, click here.

Byron Brown, the mayor of Buffalo, New York, is joining other mayors in illuminating the color Orange in a call for gun violence prevention.

Brown, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the African American Mayors Association and Jim Diodati, the mayor of Niagara Falls, Canada and several other groups will use the color to honor the victims of Saturday's deadly shooting at a Buffalo supermarket. Brown met with President Biden on Tuesday.

Biden arrived to pay his respects to the victims of what investigators are calling a hate-fueled mass shooting in a predominantly Black neighborhood that left 10 dead and three wounded over the weekend.

Broome County, New York, District Attorney Mike Korchak on Tuesday slammed an "abundance of misinformation in the media" and clarified some details of a 2021 investigation into a student at Susquehanna High School in Conklin.

Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia on Sunday said Gendron was hospitalized and underwent a mental health evaluation in June 2021, when he graduated from Susquehanna High School, after making a "generalized threat" in his hometown of Conklin

"In early June, in an online class, he made disturbing comments regarding murder/suicide," Korchak said without naming the student. "The school followed protocol and notified the New York State Police. Based on information currently in my possession, no direct threat was made to the school of any student."

Authorities responded to the threats and transported the student to a hospital, the DA said.

"The suspect was evaluated and released. He subsequently returned to school and even participated in his graduation without incident," Korchak explained, acted in line with procedures and protocols at the time.

Fox News' Stephanie Pagones contributed to this report.

Complaint against Payton Gedron filed in Buffalo, New York

A complaint filed in Buffalo, New York, accuses Buffalo shooting suspect Payton Gedron of first-degree murder, stating that the 18-year-old intended to cause death and serious injury to people who were not involved in a criminal transaction.

Suspected Buffalo gunman Payton Gendron, 18, reportedly discussed his plans to execute a mass shooting on the social media app Discord since at least December 2021, according to Bloomberg.

"I will carry out an attack against the replacers, and will even livestream the attack via discord and twitch," Gendron reportedly wrote on Discord in December, logs obtained by Bloomberg show.

The suspected killer referenced his plans to carry out the attack at least 17 times in December on the app and frequently mentioned the 2019 Christchurch shooting in New Zealand, the outlet reported.

He also reportedly said in a Dec. 5, 2021, Discord post that he planned to execute the attack on March 15, which would have marked three years since the Christchurch gunman fatally shot 51 people and livestreamed his attack on Facebook.

Gendron is accused of fatally shooting 10 Black victims and wounding three others, including two White victims, at a Tops grocery store on Saturday in what President Biden plans to label as a terrorist attack during his trip to the Upstate New York town on Tuesday.

Officials have said the suspect live-streamed a portion of the shooting on social media platform Twitch. A Twitch spokesperson said the stream was suspended within two minutes. Gendron also allegedly detailed his plans in an extensive manifesto. 

Fox News' Stephanie Pagones contributed to this report.

First lady Jill Biden listens as President Joe Biden speaks to families of victims of Saturday's shooting, law enforcement and first responders, and community leaders at the Delavan Grider Community Center in Buffalo, N.Y., Tuesday, May 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

President Biden on Tuesday commemorated those who lost their lives or were injured during a Saturday mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, that he described as a domestic terror attack.

The president named the 13 shooting victims, ten of whom died, and detailed their backgrounds as parents, grandparents, caretakers, a deacon, a retired police officer, a public school teacher and others whose lives were suddenly cut short in a hate-fueled attack.

"What happened here is straightforward and simple. Terrorism. Terrorism. Domestic terrorism," Biden said Saturday in Buffalo, adding later that "white supremacy is a poison...running through our body politic."

The deceased victims of Saturday's mass shooting include Roberta A. Drury, 32; Margus D. Morrison, 52; Andre Mackneil of Auburn, 53; Aaron Salter, 55; Geraldine Talley, 62; Celestine Chaney, 65; Heyward Patterson, 67; Katherine Massey, 72; Pearl Young, 77; and Ruth Whitfield; 86.

Those who suffered non-life threatening injuries include Zaire Goodman, 20; Jennifer Warrington, 50; and Christopher Braden, 55.

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden visit the scene of a shooting at a supermarket to pay respects and speak to families of the victims of Saturday's shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., Tuesday, May 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

President Biden is expected to label Saturday's mass shooting at a Tops grocery store as an act of terrorism, according to the White House.

The president will make the remarks at a Buffalo community center while he and first lady Jill Biden pay their respects to the families of the 10 Black victims who lost their lives and three others who were wounded during Saturday's shooting.

"[T]he President will call this despicable act for what it is: terrorism motivated by a hateful and perverse ideology that tears at the soul of our nation," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Tuesday on Air Force One.

Additionally, Biden will "call on all Americans to give hate no safe harbor, and to reject the lies of racial animus that radicalize and divide us." He will also push Congress "to take action to keep weapons of war...off our streets," Jean-Pierre said.

She noted that the president and first lady will meet with victims' families, law enforcement officers, first responders and other local leaders "to offer their condolences and comfort to those affected by this tragedy."

"The president will call on Americans to seek a more perfect union and embraces the diversity that has made us the world's strongest and most dynamic nation in the history of the world," the press secretary continued.

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden visit the scene of a shooting at a supermarket to pay respects and speak to families of the victims of Saturday's shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., Tuesday, May 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

President Biden and first lady Jill Biden on Tuesday visited a makeshift memorial outside a Tops grocery store in Buffalo, New York, where a Saturday mass shooting devastated and scared the nation.

The Justice Department is investigating the shooting as "a hate crime and an act of racially-motivated violent extremism" after the White gunman fatally shot 10 Black victims, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said Saturday.

The shooting was the deadliest racist attack since Biden took office. Biden has said the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, inspired him to run for president.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

An 8-year-old girl who survived the Saturday mass shooting at a Tops grocery store in Buffalo, New York, says she and her father hid together in a milk freezer.

"People say I'm a very brave girl," the girl, Londin Thomas, told WKBW.

Londin and her father, Lamont Thomas, were in the baking aisle while her mother, Julie Hartwell, went to purchase food for dinner when the shots rang out, according to the outlet.

"We went to the back of the store where the milk is," Londin said. "The door was locked, and we could not get out until the manager opened the door. Then we had to go out the back door. We had the cops lead us out."

The 8-year-old said she was "scared for" her mother when they were separated during the shooting.

"I did not know what happened to her because she was in the front and I was in the back. I didn't know where she was. I thought she was gone," Londin told the outlet.

The family described seeing milk jugs exploding as the gunman's bullets ripped through the store.

President Biden has departed for Buffalo, N.Y., in the wake of the Tops Friendly Market mass shooting.

Biden and First Lady Jill Biden -- at a memorial set up for the victims -- will pay their respects for the lives lost, before meeting with families, law enforcement, first responders and others affected by the tragedy.

He then will deliver a speech around 1 p.m. with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul in attendance.

Payton Gendron appears during his arraignment in Buffalo City Court, Saturday. Gendron was arraigned on first-degree murder charges and ordered detained without bail. (Mark Mulville/The Buffalo News via AP)

CONKLIN, N.Y. – New details have emerged regarding the alleged threat that accused Buffalo mass shooter Payton Gendron made in June 2021, leading the teenager to undergo a required mental health evaluation at a local hospital. 

Payton Gendron, now 18, said he wanted "to commit a murder-suicide" in June 2021, prompting New York State Police to respond to the local high school and take the teen into custody, said Stephen Belongia, special agent-in-charge of the FBI’s Buffalo Field Office.

To read more, click here.  

FBI Investigators enter the Tops supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y. on Monday. A local man referenced the mass shooting that killed 10 people during alleged threatening calls to two local business, authorities said. (AP Photo/Robert Bumsted)

A Buffalo, New York man made threats to two local businesses over the weekend and referenced a mass shooting at a local supermarket that occurred a day earlier where 10 people were killed and several others injured, authorities said Monday. 

Joseph S. Chowaniec, 52, is charged with making a terroristic threat and faces seven years in prison, Eric County District Attorney John Flynn said. 

To read more, click here.

Erie County Sheriff John Garcia said the amount of violence in the country is 'numbing' after 10 were killed in a mass shooting.

Fox News' Nate Foy and Bill Hemmer provide details about Buffalo shooting suspect Payton Gendron and two of the victims.

Fox News contributor Leo Terrell on the grocery store massacre in Buffalo being investigated as a hate crime.

Investigators work the scene of a shooting at a supermarket, in Buffalo, N.Y., Monday, May 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Tops Friendly Markets President John Persons released a new statement on Monday, two days after alleged gunman Payton Gendron, 18, opened fire inside a Buffalo supermarket, killing 10 people.

In his statement, Persons said the company was "rapidly working to create a fund for the families of victims and those directly impacted and will be providing more information over the next few days."

He said the store would remain closed until further notice, but would be working closely with local elected officials and would also be "providing free bus shuttle service from 10am until 7pm daily from Jefferson Ave & Riley St to the nearby Tops on Elmwood Ave."

Persons added that Tops would be providing grief counseling to store associates and their families.

"My prayers are with Buffalonians during this time of sadness and grief and as this tragedy continues to unfold and we learn more about its extent," he concluded."

Read the full statement below:

Dear Valued Shoppers:

The Tops family is heartbroken over the senseless violence of this past weekend that has impacted our associates and customers of the Tops store on Jefferson Avenue - and our entire community. Tops has been committed to this community and to the City of Buffalo for decades and this tragedy will not change that commitment.

We thank our local, state and federal law enforcement agencies for their quick response and diligence and we are providing all available resources to assist authorities in the ongoing investigation.

We also want to thank Mayor Byron Brown and his staff for all their tremendous guidance and support. It has been heartwarming to see the outpouring of community support. Many of you have reached out with condolences and offers to help. Thank you.

Most importantly, we are rapidly working to create a fund for the families of victims and those directly impacted and will be providing more information over the next few days. It is our sincere hope to partner with many local and business leaders on this endeavor.

While the Tops location at Jefferson Avenue will remain closed until further notice, we are steadfast in our commitment to serving every corner of our community as we have for the past 60 years. Knowing the importance of this location and serving families on the East Side of the city, we have taken immediate steps to ensure our neighbors are able to meet their grocery and pharmacy needs by providing free bus shuttle service from 10am until 7pm daily from Jefferson Ave & Riley St to the nearby Tops on Elmwood Ave. We are also working closely with Council Member Ulysees Wingo Sr., who represents the Masten District, to provide free food and supplies to our neighbors via the Resource Council of WNY at 347 East Ferry St. in Buffalo.

As we continue to process this tragedy as a Tops family, grief counseling is available to all associates and their families beginning this Monday and Tuesday from 12:00 - 6:00 PM at the Merriweather Library on 1324 Jefferson Ave.

In addition, we thank the many local organizations that have offered their community resources for counseling support. One of those is the United Way of Buffalo & Erie County. If you are in need of immediate help, call 211 or text your zip code to 898-211.

My prayers are with Buffalonians during this time of sadness and grief and as this tragedy continues to unfold and we learn more about its extent."

Attorney Benjamin Crump, accompanied by the family of Ruth Whitfield, a victim of shooting at a supermarket, speaks with members of the media during a news conference in Buffalo, N.Y., Monday, May 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Retired Buffalo Fire Commissioner Garnell Whitfield Jr., the son of Buffalo mass shooting victim Ruth Whitfield, was flanked by his siblings, family and attorneys as he remembered his mother and called for action.“

Family forever changed, forever damaged, forever without the person who held us together,” Whitfield said during a Monday afternoon press conference.

Whitfield and his attorneys, including civil rights attorney Ben Crump, said no legal action has yet been taken but lawyers are “absolutely going to look at filing legal action.”

They also called on President Biden and Washington lawmakers to take action, such as by passing the Anti-Black hate Crimes Bill.

“My mom got up that morning as she went up … to the nursing home, to care for the love of her life: my father, 68 years of marriage. He's [been] in that nursing home for the last eight years. And every day she would get to care for him to make sure that he had a quality of life, to do what nobody else could do for him."

He added: “She left there to get groceries on the way home … How can we just sit here? You guys out here covering this, what are we going to do to change it? How do we hold people accountable if you don't help? We're thankful that you're here, but is just not some story to drive the news cycle. This is not this is our mother. This is our lives. We need help.”

He said his elderly father does not yet know the news, and asked: “How do we tell him the love of his life – his primary caretaker, the person who kept him alive for the last eight years – how do we tell him that she's gone? Not just that she's gone, but she's gone at the hands of a white supremacist terrorist?"

Whitfield, 86, was one of 10 people shot and killed during Saturday’s tragic events at a Buffalo, N.Y. Tops supermarket, allegedly at the hands of 18-year-old Payton Gendron. Three other people were injured.

Eleven of the victims, including Salter were Black individuals, officials have said. 

Fox News' Stephen Goin contributed to this report.

(Fox News Digital/Michael Ruiz)

A neighbor at Payton Gendron’s Conklin, N.Y. home told Fox News Digital's Michael Ruiz the Gendrons were “not a bad family.”

“They’re quiet,” said the man, who asked to remain anonymous. “Nobody had any hankering of anything like this, that’s for sure.”

“You would never, just never picture it,” he went on. “Everybody up here, you know, just about knows everybody … And you don't hold long conversations, but you say, 'Hello,' and you’re courteous.”

The neighbor said he believed Gendron had a part-time job.

“I didn’t even know he had guns,” the neighbor went on. “They're not hunters or anything. And that's why it was strange to hear he had three.”

He added: “It's just something that people up here in this area just didn't expect.”

President Joe Biden speaks before presenting Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor awards to fourteen recipients, during an event in the East Room of the White House, Monday, May 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

President Biden honored Buffalo mass shooting victim and former Buffalo Police officer Aaron Salter, Jr. during a ceremony on Monday at the White House, where he awarded Public Safety Officer Medals of Valor for “extraordinary valor above and beyond the call of duty."

“We pay tribute to all law enforcement officers and their families who understand what it takes, what's at risk to save and protect all of us,” Biden told the crowd. “And that includes paying tribute to the Buffalo police officer, Aaron Salter … who gave his life trying to save others when a gunman shot and killed 10 innocent people at a grocery store in Buffalo on Saturday.”

Biden added: “He actually was able to shoot the assailant twice, but he had he had on a bulletproof vest and he lost his life in the process. No one understands more than all of you here today the pain and anguish those families in Buffalo feel.”

Salter, 55, was one of 10 people shot and killed during Saturday’s tragic events at a Buffalo, N.Y. Tops supermarket, allegedly at the hands of 18-year-old Payton Gendron. Three other people were injured.

Eleven of the victims, including Salter were Black individuals, officials have said. 

The president is expected to travel to Buffalo on Tuesday.

(Fox News Digital/Michael Ruiz)

Photos taken Monday afternoon from the Conklin, N.Y. home of accused mass shooter Payton Gendron show police and law enforcement appear to have cleared out.

The ranch-style home is located in a quiet neighborhood behind an industrial complex. One car was parked in the driveway of the home on Amber Hill Road and the exterior lights remained on, Fox News Digital's Michael Ruiz reports.

No one answered the door around noontime Monday.

Monday's images show a stark contrast from Sunday, when photos showed police and law enforcement vehicles lining the streets. Neighbors confirmed to Fox News Digital that law enforcement officers remained at the home with flood lights until late at night, but left by morning.

A spokesperson for the FBI's Buffalo Field Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for the Erie County District Attorney's office would not comment when asked if Gendron's parents would face any charges.

Gendron's home is just shy of three hours and thirty minutes, or about 230 miles, from the Tops supermarket on Jefferson Avenue in Buffalo.

Fox News' Madeleine Rivera provides updates on the Buffalo shooting that left 10 dead and three others injured. 

FBI Investigators enter the Tops supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y. on Monday, May 16 2022. (AP Photo/Robert Bumsted)

The Tops shooting suspect accused of killing 10 people and injuring three others during an allegedly racially motivated attack sat outside the supermarket for hours on the day before the massacre, according to a recent report.

Payton Gendron, 18, was seen casing the Jefferson Avenue Tops supermarket in Buffalo on Friday – the day before Saturday’s mass shooting – and was ultimately asked to leave the store, Tops operations manager Shonnell Harris Teague told ABC News.

Gendron was wearing “camper gear on his back like he was asking people for change” and the same camouflage clothing he was seen in on Saturday, according to the report. Gendron sat outside the supermarket for hours on Friday, but entered the store later in the day, when he appeared to be pestering shoppers, Teague told ABC.

"I asked him can he please leave the store – you're gonna have to stand outside," she told ABC.

A woman with the same name and job description as Teague confirmed the account in a Facebook post on Sunday, when she wrote, in part, “I want to take the time to say Thank you Everyone for the calls messages. I had to get my bearings together to know that I had interactions with that man Fri at the store he was hanging outside the store on Friday.”

Teague did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

 Former DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary Jonathan Fahey on the Biden administration's response to the supermarket shooting.

Fox News correspondent Alexis McAdams reports from the Tops grocery store where 10 people were killed on 'Fox Report.'

Payton Gendron appears during his arraignment in Buffalo City Court on Saturday, May 14. (Mark Mulville/The Buffalo News via AP)

Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said Monday that shooting suspect Payton Gendron -- had he not been stopped -- would have continued looking for more Black people to kill, according to ABC News.

"We have uncovered information that if he escaped the supermarket he had plans to continue his attack," Gramaglia told the network.

Gramaglia added that Gendron had plans to possibly go to another store or location.

A crowd gathers as police investigate after a shooting at a supermarket on Saturday, May 14, 2022, in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/Joshua Bessex)

When a self-described White supremacist allegedly opened fire on a crowd of innocent shoppers at a Buffalo supermarket Saturday, victims in the front of the store had little chance of escape, with several ambushed in the first few seconds.

Taisiah Stewart, 20, who recently moved to New York state from Georgia to live with his mother, said he sprinted nearly three-quarters of a mile to safety after witnessing the first woman struck near the store’s front window – leaving behind his phone and losing his shoes in the process.

He told Fox News Digital that he visited the Tops Friendly Market Saturday because he’d recently met a young woman nearby. He was near the front of the store, close to the security guard and former Buffalo Police Officer Aaron Salter Jr., when gunfire erupted.

For more on this story: Buffalo shooting survivor recounts harrowing escape after witnessing start of 'hate'-fueled attack

On Sunday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas released a statement saying his department was actively working to "combat violent extremism." 

“Our nation mourns the loss of life caused by the horrific shooting in Buffalo, New York," Mayorkas said. "Our hearts break for the families and friends of the victims, and we stand with them and the entire Black community that was targeted by this hateful act of violence. The Department of Homeland Security continues to work closely with our partners across the country to combat violent extremism, including racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism, which continues to pose one of the most significant terrorism-related threats to the homeland."

"We are devoting every available resource to combat all forms of terrorism and targeted violence to keep our communities safe and secure,” he said.

Mayorkas added: “Make no mistake: when one community is targeted, we are all targeted. This country stands as one, and we will combat violent extremism as one.”

The Buffalo Police Department released a full list of victims on Sunday night who died or were hurt in the attack:

Deceased:

Roberta A. Drury of Buffalo, New York, 32

Margus D. Morrison of Buffalo, New York, 52

Andre Mackneil of Auburn, New York, 53

Aaron Salter of Lockport, New York, 55

Geraldine Talley of Buffalo, New York, 62

Celestine Chaney of Buffalo, New York, 65

Heyward Patterson of Buffalo, New York, 67

Katherine Massey of Buffalo, New York, 72

Pearl Young of Buffalo, New York, 77

Ruth Whitfield of Buffalo, New York, 86

Suffered non-life threatening injuries:

Zaire Goodman of Buffalo, New York, 20

Jennifer Warrington of Tonawanda, New York, 50 

Christopher Braden of Lackawanna, New York, 55

President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will travel to Buffalo, New York on Tuesday, May 17, according to a statement from the White House.

President Biden and the First Lady will make the trip to "grieve with the community that lost ten lives in a senseless and horrific mass shooting."

Police in Buffalo say that an 18-year-old allegedly opened fire at a grocery store on Saturday afternoon, killing 10 people and injuring three others.

(Fox News Digital/Michael Ruiz)

Mourners have erected multiple memorials around the area of the Tops supermarket, where 10 people were killed and there others were wounded during Saturday's mass shooting.

Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown speaks during a press conference about Saturday's shooting at a supermarket on Sunday, May 15, 2022, in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/Joshua Bessex)

Federal and state investigators have interviewed the parents of accused mass shooter Payton Gendron and have executed a number of search warrant in connection with his alleged Saturday attack, which left 10 people dead and another three wounded, officials said Sunday.  

New York State troopers and agents with the FBI traveled to 18-year-old Gendron’s home on Sunday to speak with the parents have been cooperative with authorities, Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia told reporters during a Sunday press conference. 

"From what I’ve been told, they’re absolutely distraught and devastated," Gramaglia said. 

Read more here.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, D., tasked social media companies with doing a better job monitoring speech on their platforms following the deadly mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo Saturday.

The suspected shooter had allegedly published an approximately 180-page manifesto online before the shooting, in which he described himself as a White supremacist and detailed his fears that White people are being replaced by other races. He was likely planning the attack for months in advance, according to authorities.

Hochul argued that one of the first orders of business was for social media companies to more closely monitor the content on their platforms.

Payton S. Gendron (Erie County DA / AP Photo)

Accused Buffalo shooter Payton Gendron was hospitalized and underwent a mental health evaluation in 2021 after making a "generalized threat," according to police officials. Gendron, an 18-year-old from Conklin, New York, was hospitalized for a mental health evaluation for one-and-a-half days in June 2021, after he made the general threat in his hometown, according to Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia.

A spokesperson for the New York State Police said troopers responded to Susquehanna High School in Conklin, N.Y., "to investigate a report that a 17-year-old student had made a threatening statement." The spokesperson did not identify the subject by name, but said there was no target associated with the threat. 

"The state police responded," Gramaglia said during Sunday’s press conference. "They investigated. They interviewed the subject, and they felt it was appropriate at that time to have that individual brought in for a mental health evaluation. State police did their job to the fullest that they could at that time."

Read more here.

So far, investigators have found that "there were three weapons. There were two in the car and one in his possession," Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said. "One was a rifle, one was a shotgun ... He had an AR-15."

"State police and FBI are at his house, they've spoken with the parents," Gramaglia said. "From what I've been told, they're absolutely distraught and devastated, cooperating."

Accused Buffalo shooter Payton Gendron underwent a mental health evaluation in 2021, after he was reportedly taken into state police custody for making threatening statements while he was a high school student.

"He went to the local hospital. He was there for, the information we have is about a day and a half was evaluated and then released at that point," Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said.

The Associated Press reported that New York State troopers responded to a Conklin high school, in Gendron's hometown, on June 8, 2021, after Gendron, the 17, allegedly "made threatening statements," according to the report.

"That individual was brought in for a mental health evaluation," Gramaglia said. "He was evaluated and then he was released. As far as when we say 'On the radar,' there was nothing picked up on the state police intelligence, nothing that was picked up on the FBI intelligence. Nobody called in. Nobody called any complaints."

Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia tells reporters investigators are in the process of obtaining and executing search warrants on accused mass shooter Payton Gendron's home, his vehicle, his social media activity, digital footprint and technology, including telephones and a computer.

Asked if investigators believe there were any other individuals involved, Gramaglia tells reporters: "This investigation is showing that he did this by himself. We are again looking into some other aspects that we're not going to get into."

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul tells reporters the National Action Network, a non-profit organization, will cover all funeral-related costs for the 10 victims.

"They want to pick up all the funeral costs for these families," Hochul said. "They want to make sure that they don't have these fraudulent GoFundMe sites that are often set up in these circumstances. And so we'll be getting information out about that incredibly generous offer."

The FBI has created a webpage dedicated to any tips related to the Saturday attack. Anyone with information related to the attack is asked to call 1-800-CALL-FBI(1-800-225-5324). Anyone with images or videos is asked to submit them via this webpage.

Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia tells reporters the crime scene at Tops grocery store "is still being held and it will be held for as long as we need it."

"The FBI is bringing in specialized equipment to help process that scene. This is a very significant coordinated, collaborative effort with the state police, the FBI, the sheriff's department, everybody else involved in this process."

Gramaglia further noted that law enforcement agents have obtained warrants and will continue to do so "both on the state and the federal levels."

"We'll be looking at extensive digital platforms, computers, phones, cameras and anything else that that comes into play in this investigation."

Erie County Sheriff John C. Garcia tells reporters accused mass shooter Gendron -- whom he refused to name -- is being held on suicide watch in the wake of Saturday's actions. Gendron allegedly held his assault rifle to his chin before law enforcement officers were able to take him into custody.

Speaking to reporters during an afternoon press conference, Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia tells reporters: "The evidence that we have uncovered so far makes no mistake that this is an absolute racist hate crime."

"It will be prosecuted as a hate crime," he says. "This is someone who has hate in their hearts ... And there is no mistake that that's the direction that this is going in. This will be completely geared toward securing a conviction for this individual."

"Last night, we completed the process with the medical examiner's office and identifications," said Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia. "More importantly, we had a family reunification center and we were able to provide all those notifications so that they can begin the grieving process."

New York State and Buffalo officials held a press conference around 12:45 p.m. ET to provide the latest updates in the mass shooting investigation.

Gov. Kathy Hochul join Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown and Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia, among others, for the afternoon update.

People gather outside the scene of a shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y., Sunday, May 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul joined a Buffalo Baptist congregation for worship on Sunday as the community mourned the loss of 10 victims who were killed during Saturday’s mass shooting at a local Tops grocery story.

Hochul joined several other public speakers, including Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown and New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, at True Bethel Baptist Church’s Sunday morning worship.

The New York governor called the gunman a "coward" as she told an emotional audience, "an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us, because we are all God’s people."

Read more here.

Buffalo Police on scene at a Tops Friendly Market on May 14, 2022 in Buffalo, New York. (Photo by John Normile/Getty Images)

New York City deployed increased patrols and counterterrorism resources to certain parts of the city, including around churches and houses of worship in communities of color, officials confirmed to Fox News Digital.

The New York Police Department, or NYPD, said in an email to Fox News Digital that investigators have found "no threat to New York City" as a result of Sunday’s attack, but said it has shifted resources "out of an abundance of caution." 

"[W]e have shifted counterterrorism and patrol resources to give special attention to a number of locations and areas including major houses of worship in communities of color," NYPD spokesperson Sgt. Brendan Ryan wrote. 

Read more here.

Payton Gendron appears during his arraignment in Buffalo City Court, Saturday, May 14, 2022, in Buffalo, N.Y. Gendron was arraigned on first-degree murder charges and ordered detained without bail. Police officials said the 18-year-old was wearing body armor and military-style clothing when he pulled up and opened fire at people at a Tops Friendly Market. (Mark Mulville/The Buffalo News via AP)

The man who allegedly shot 10 people dead and injured three more at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket Saturday likely planned out his racially motivated attack for months, authorities said Sunday.

Police pointed to the roughly 180-page manifesto the alleged shooter, 18-year-old Payton Gendron, posted before going on his rampage. The rambling text included a detailed plan of his assault on the Tops Friendly Market, which he drove to from several counties away, according to police."

This defendant is accused of traveling to our area and targeting innocent people who were shopping for their groceries on a Saturday afternoon. I continue to pray for all affected by this horrific crime," Erie County District Attorney John Flynn said Saturday

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People gather outside the scene of a shooting at a supermarket, in Buffalo, N.Y., Sunday, May 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

A retired police officer who was one of the 10 people killed in the Buffalo, New York mass shooting Saturday afternoon is being praised as a "hero" by the city's police department.

Retired Buffalo Police officer Aaron Salter was killed at Tops Markets grocery store while trying to protect others from the shooter, 18-year-old Payton Gendron, reports said. 

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