dpa
NEW YORK — Ten people have been killed in a supermarket shooting in Buffalo, Mayor Byron Brown confirmed Saturday.
BREAKING: BPD on scene of a mass shooting at the Tops in the 1200 block of Jefferson Avenue. Police say multiple people have been struck by gunfire. The shooter is in custody. Motorists and residents are urged to avoid the area.
— Buffalo Police Dept (@BPDAlerts) May 14, 2022
The assailant was arrested, Brown added. He was described as not being from the area. Details on the number of people injured were initially not disclosed.
Brown said the shooter had traveled to Buffalo from outside the area.
The supermarket is north of the city in area that is mostly home to Black residents.
Police earlier said the perpetrator, a white man, was heavily armed and opened fire in the supermarket parking lot.
The Buffalo shooter may have had a far-right motive for his crime. An investigator on the scene for the FBI said it was investigating the incident as both a hate crime and a case of racially motivated violent extremism.
“I’m on my way to Buffalo to assist with the response to today’s shooting,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul tweeted. “My heart breaks for the victims’ families and for everyone impacted by this horrific and despicable act of violence.”
Buffalo is the second largest city in the state after New York. The city with around 280,000 inhabitants is only a few miles away from Niagara Falls.
———
©2022 dpa GmbH. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
