BUFFALO, N.Y. — The 18-year-old accused of killing 10 people at a Buffalo, New York supermarket was fueled by hate, authorities said.
"The evidence that we have uncovered so far makes no mistake that this is an absolute racist hate crime," said Buffalo Police commissioner Joseph A. Gramaglia.
Federal agents interviewed the parents of Payton Gendron and served multiple search warrants, The Associated Press reported.
Officials who spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity said Gendron’s parents were cooperating with investigators.
Federal authorities were still working to confirm the authenticity of a 180-page manifesto that was posted online, which detailed the plot and identified Gendron by name as the gunman, the official said.
The FBI is investigating the shooting as an act of racially-motivated violent extremism, which legally defines the mass shooting as an act of terror.
President Joe Biden, who will visit Buffalo on Tuesday, addressed the possibility that the shooting could have been racially-motivated.
"A racially motivated hate crime is abhorrent to the very fabric of this nation," Biden said in a statement. "Any act of domestic terrorism, including an act perpetrated in the name of a repugnant white nationalist ideology, is antithetical to everything we stand for in America."
In addition to the 10 people who were killed, three others were wounded. Hospital officials said two of those victims had been released. The other victim is considered "stable."
Gendron was arraigned Saturday night. He's charged with first-degree murder. A public defender entered a not guilty plea on Gendron's behalf.
The teenager is on suicide watch, authorities said on Sunday.