Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Flanked by NY leaders, president condemns Buffalo mass shooting
By
Michelle Bocanegra
Published May 17, 2022
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Scott Olson/Getty Images
By
Michelle Bocanegra
Published May 17, 2022
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
President Joe Biden decried a mass shooting at a Buffalo grocery store as an act of domestic terrorism on Tuesday, joining a slate of New York officials denouncing a tide of white supremacy they fear has become mainstream.
“What happened here is simple and straightforward: Terrorism,” said Biden, who appeared at a local community center alongside prominent elected officials.
The attack on Saturday left 10 dead and three others injured. Eleven of the shooting victims were Black. Officials said the shooting was being investigated as a hate crime by both local and federal law enforcement.
Payton Gendron, the suspected 18-year-old shooter, was accused of authoring a racist document online that centered on the conspiracy theory that white people are being “replaced.” The suspect, who is white, allegedly live-streamed the shooting on the social media platform Twitch.
The suspect is a resident of Conklin, New York, a town outside of Binghamton**,** hours away from Buffalo. Biden sounded off on a slate of mass shootings to occur in recent memory and called for stronger action against rooting out white supremacy in its tracks.
“White supremacy is a poison,” he said, interrupted by applause from the crowd. “It's a poison … running through our body politic that's been allowed to fester and grow right in front of our eyes.”
Biden was joined by elected officials from New York, including Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat from Buffalo. Hochul said the same sentiments embraced by the accused shooter were becoming commonplace, even within Congress, without explicitly naming which members she was referring to.
Social media posts from U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) that her campaign paid to promote on Facebook have been scrutinized in the aftermath of the shooting, as critics say they touted the same “great replacement” conspiracy theory seemingly embraced in the shooter’s online writings.
Stefanik and her allies have vociferously denied the connection, with Senior Adviser Alex DeGrasse saying in a statement Monday that Stefanik “has never advocated for any racist position or made any racist statement,” calling the shooting “an act of evil.”
“These hateful philosophies are starting to become mainstream, and they took hold in the mind of an 18-year-old who lives three hours from here,” the governor said. “And he targeted this community — intentionally coming to this zip code … he was targeting and wanted to execute black New Yorkers. That's hard to comprehend.”
Tagged
shooting
buffalo
joe biden
Michelle Bocanegra
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Mamdani names re-entry specialist as chair of Rikers oversight board
Christopher Watler will help the department that a federal monitor says remains in crisis.
By
Ryan Kost
Published Oct 6, 2026 at 3:52 p.m. ET
NYC weighs expanding upstate reservoir following drought
The Delaware River Basin Commission is evaluating options to increase water storage, including expanding a reservoir in New York City.
By
Rosemary Misdary
News
NYC weighs expanding upstate reservoir following drought
The Delaware River Basin Commission is evaluating options to increase water storage, including expanding a reservoir in New York City.
By
Rosemary Misdary
Legionella found in Staten Island building's water system after 2 positive cases
By
Catalina Gonella
Legal 'loophole' helps NY Gov. Kathy Hochul, Bruce Blakeman raise millions
By
Jon Campbell
Police identify 2 men wanted for stabbing an off-duty NYPD officer
By
Ben Feuerherd
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .