Buffalo mass shooting suspect appears in court on federal hate crime charges

Ten people were killed and three were injured in the May 14 supermarket attack.

A federal magistrate on Thursday urged federal prosecutors to quickly decide whether to seek the death penalty for alleged Buffalo supermarket shooter Payton Gendron, citing the expense to taxpayers of defending a death-eligible defendant.

Gendron, 18, said at the U.S. District Court hearing that he has all of $16 to his name, prompting U.S. Magistrate Judge Kenneth Schroeder to assign him “learned counsel” – attorneys with experience in death penalty cases – from the Federal Public Defenders Office.

“This case has now been around for a month. I would hope the Department of Justice would undertake steps that would reasonably bring about” a decision whether to seek the death penalty, Schroeder said.

Prosecutors told the judge they will inform their superiors of his request, but noted no decision could be made before an indictment is returned.

Gendron made his first appearance in federal court, a day after U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the 26 federal counts against him and met with loved ones of the victims in Buffalo.

Schroeder read the charges and the potential penalties before declaring, “Those are the charges you are now facing as a result of this criminal complaint.”

Gendron gave mostly one-word answers to a series of questions involving his finances in order to establish that he’s eligible for court-appointed counsel.

“When was the last time you had gainful employment approximately?” Schroeder asked.

“A year,” Gendron replied.

Gendron allegedly “wrote about his acquisition of firearms, ammunition, firearm magazines, body armor, a GoPro camera, and other supplies for the attack,” according to the criminal complaint, but the document did not say how Gendron paid for the items.