Buffalo gunman pleads not guilty to domestic terror charge

By CAROLYN THOMPSON and JENNIFER PELTZ
Associated Press

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — The white gunman who killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket has pleaded not guilty to hate-motivated domestic terrorism and other charges. It’s the first case to make use of a domestic terrorism hate crime law that New York state passed two years ago. A lawyer entered the plea for 18-year-old Payton Gendron on Thursday. A a prosecutor called the evidence against him overwhelming. Witnesses, police and his own video and writings incriminated him as the shooter who used an AR-style semi-automatic rifle to target shoppers and employees of a Tops Friendly Market, and he surrendered at the crime scene.