Live updates: Biden condemns Buffalo supermarket shooting as hate crime as police investigate

Suspect investigated in past for alleged threatening statement, law enforcement officials saySurvivor describes terror during shooting: ‘Something told me to get up and run’Details of shooting emerge that fit with patterns of past mass killingsBiden: Hate ‘remains a stain on the soul of America’Local barber says he recognizes suspect from previous visit to neighborhoodConservative media is familiar with ‘great replacement theory’Photos: Returning to the scene of the killings Vice President Harris calls out ‘racially-motivated hate crimes’Domestic terror incidents on the rise, Post investigation foundPhotos: Victims’ families, friends worship at True Bethel Baptist ChurchPhotos: A community grieves at multifaith prayer vigilHome of shooting suspect in Conklin, N.Y., is searchedFaith leaders in Buffalo urge calm, seek accountabilityNew York AG pledges investigation into weapon, racist motivationsHochul says social media companies must crack down on ‘depraved ideas’Suspect investigated in past for alleged threatening statement, law enforcement officials saySurvivor describes terror during shooting: ‘Something told me to get up and run’Details of shooting emerge that fit with patterns of past mass killingsBiden: Hate ‘remains a stain on the soul of America’Local barber says he recognizes suspect from previous visit to neighborhoodConservative media is familiar with ‘great replacement theory’Photos: Returning to the scene of the killings Vice President Harris calls out ‘racially-motivated hate crimes’Domestic terror incidents on the rise, Post investigation foundPhotos: Victims’ families, friends worship at True Bethel Baptist ChurchPhotos: A community grieves at multifaith prayer vigilHome of shooting suspect in Conklin, N.Y., is searchedFaith leaders in Buffalo urge calm, seek accountabilityNew York AG pledges investigation into weapon, racist motivationsHochul says social media companies must crack down on ‘depraved ideas’An 18-year-old White man is accused of opening fire Saturday at a supermarket in Buffalo, killing 10 people and injuring three others, said law enforcement officials, who are investigating the incident as a hate crime and a case of racially motivated violent extremism. It is also the latest massacre in recent years carried out by perpetrators allegedly driven by hate and racism, deadlier than the 2015 shooting at a historic African American church in Charleston, S.C., by Dylann Roof, who was referenced in the document.Here’s what to knowTwo law enforcement officials said the gunman arrested in connection with the shooting in Buffalo was investigated less than a year ago by state police for making a threatening statement.They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.A state police spokesman said that on June 8, 2021, officials “responded to Susquehanna High School in Conklin, NY, to investigate a report that a 17-year-old student had made a threatening statement.” The spokesman did not identify the student, citing state privacy laws.“The student was taken into custody” under a provision of the state’s mental health law “and transported to the hospital for a mental health evaluation.” The individual was not charged.Buffalo’s police commissioner, Joseph Gramaglia, confirmed the episode, saying that state officers had taken the suspect to a hospital, where he was evaluated and then let go.“The information we have is he was there for a day and a half, was evaluated and then released at that point,” Gramaglia said at a Sunday news briefing, adding that state police “did their job to the fullest they could at that time.”He said the threatening statement reported at the suspect’s high school was “a generalized threat, not a specific threat made at a specific place or person.” Asked whether the threat was racist, Gramaglia said that it was not.The Buffalo News reported that the teen had made comments that raised concerns he might be planning to conduct a mass shooting timed around his high school graduation.BUFFALO — At 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Julie Harwell was at Tops Friendly Market picking up some hamburgers and hot dogs for her birthday barbecue. One of the victims in Buffalo on Saturday was Aaron Salter Jr., a security guard on duty who was a retired police officer.In the rest of his speech, Biden vowed to support more funding, not less, for law enforcement, and said the job of being a police officer was “so much more complicated” than it had ever been.According to the White House, Biden spoke with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) and reached out to Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown on Sunday to offer his condolences and support.BUFFALO — As law enforcement officials dive deeper into the movement of an 18-year-old accused of killing 10 people at a supermarket here, some local residents say they believe they recognize suspect Payton Gendron from previous visits to the area.Daniel Love, who owns a barbershop across the street from the Tops Friendly Market, the scene of the killings, said he and co-workers saw a man they believe to be Gendron on Friday sitting on the curb outside the shop at about 6 p.m.The Washington Post could not independently verify that the man seen by Love was the suspect.“He was sitting there using the WiFi,” Love said. The atmosphere on Sunday was different.Vice President Harris reacted to news of the shooting by asking Americans to call out “racially-motivated hate crimes or acts of violent extremism.”Her statement Sunday stopped short of labeling this specific shooting a hate crime, but described such incidents as “crimes which affect all of us.”“Law enforcement is proceeding with its investigation, but what is clear is that we are seeing an epidemic of hate across our country that has been evidenced by acts of violence and intolerance,” Harris said, adding: “We must call it out and condemn it.”She is the latest of several officials to draw attention to the apparent racist motivations behind the shooting, in which 11 of the 13 victims were Black.Erie Country District Attorney John Flynn said evidence might support a charge of “domestic extremism motivated by race” against shooting suspect Payton Gendron, an 18-year-old White man, who already faces a first-degree murder charge.Federal authorities have said they are pursuing the case as a racially motivated hate crime, meaning they could file federal civil rights charges as well.Investigators are reviewing a document, previously posted online in a Google doc, that they suspect was from Gendron. The author describes being inspired by seeing an online video of a 2019 shooting of the Al Noor Mosque in New Zealand, and by the 2015 shooting at a church in Charleston, S.C.“Racially-motivated hate crimes or acts of violent extremism are harms against all of us, and we must do everything we can to ensure that our communities are safe from such acts,” Harris said.As the district attorney considers possible domestic terrorism charges against the Buffalo suspect, a Washington Post investigation last year found that domestic terrorism incidents nationwide have soared in recent years, driven chiefly by white-supremacist, anti-Muslim and anti-government extremists on the far right.The surge reflects a growing threat from homegrown terrorism not seen in a quarter-century, with right-wing extremist attacks and plots greatly eclipsing those from the far left and causing more deaths, the analysis showed.