Law enforcement officers in Buffalo, New York are revealing new details about what the Tops Market shooter had planned if he hadn't been stopped.
Payton Gendron, the 18-year-old suspected gunman who opened fire Saturday afternoon (May 14), killing 10 Black people, planned to continue targeting Black people in the area, Buffalo Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia confirmed to ABC News.
"We have uncovered information that if he escaped the [Tops] supermarket, he had plans to continue his attack," the Commissioner said. "He had plans to continue driving down Jefferson Avenue to shoot more Black people ... possibly go to another store [or] location."
Initial reports also revealed Gendron allegedly posted a white supremacist manifesto days before the shooting and drove more than 200 miles to the area because it has the highest Black population in his vicinity, police said.
Officials are calling the shooting a "racially-motivated hate crime."
"This was well planned ... by a sick person," Gramaglia said.
Officials recovered multiple high-capacity rifle magazines on Gendron's person and in his car, the commissioner said. While officials have not revealed the specifics of the evidence of an additional attack, Gramaglia confirmed they have looked through his phone and other electronic devices.
License plate readers revealed Gendron arrived in Buffalo on Friday (May 13), police are working to find out where he stayed overnight before Saturday's attack.
Shonnell Harris Teague, an operations manager at Tops, told ABC News she saw Gendron on Friday (May 13) sitting on a bench outside of the grocery store for several hours with a camper bag, dressed in the same military-like outfit he wore during the attack.
Teague reported that Gendron entered the store Friday evening (May 13) and appeared to both customers. Teague asked Gendron to leave, which he did with no argument.
The next time Teague reportedly saw Gendron was during the shooting. Teague told the outlet she escaped the store through the back.
"I see him with his gear on and his gun and how it was all strapped on. ... I seen all the other bodies on the ground. ... It was just a nightmare," Teague said.
A total of 13 people were shot at the store Saturday afternoon. All ten of the fatally-wounded victims were Black.
Gendron is due in court on Thursday (May 19) and had been arraigned on one count of first-degree murder.
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