‘Pure Evil’: Erie Sheriff Says Buffalo Mass Shooting Was ‘Straight Up, Racially Motivated Hate Crime’

Erie County Sheriff John C. Garcia and FBI special agent in charge Stephen Belongia both confirmed at a Saturday press conference that the mass shooting at a Buffalo, New York Tops supermarket is being investigated as a racially motivated hate crime.

Officials confirmed that 10 victims, including a former police officer, were killed. Three more were injured. The shooter “traveled hours” to target the location according to Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown.

“This is the worst nightmare that any community can face,” said the mayor, who stated that the city has already received calls from the White House.

“This was pure evil,” said Sheriff Garcia. “It was straight up, racially motivated hate crime from somebody outside of our community, outside of the city of good neighbors, as the mayor said, coming into our community and trying to inflict that evil upon us.”

“I urge everyone to stay calm,” he said as he offered condolences to the victims.

“This person is pure evil,” he added.

The FBI’s domestic terror unit will investigate the murders as a “racially-motivated violent extremism case,” explained agent Belongia in his remarks.

“We are investigating this incident as both a hate crime and a case of racially motivated violent extremism,” he said. “Hate crimes fall within the FBI’s criminal investigative division, and racially-motivated violent extremism cases fall within the FBI’s counterterrorism terrorism division, within our domestic terrorism section.”

“The FBI is providing all necessary resources, both locally and nationally, to investigate this matter. We will not stop until every lead is investigated, every piece of evidence is analyzed, and until we understand how and why this horrible tragedy and crime occurred,” he said.

Officials confirmed that the store’s longtime security guard was a retired BPD officer who engaged the shooter before being killed at the scene. Although he was able to fire at the suspect, the killer’s body armor deflected it.

Buffalo police commissioner Joseph Gramaglia described the shooter as wearing “tactical gear” and said he was “heavily armed.”

The shooter shot 4 people in the parking lot before going into the store to target additional shoppers according to Gramaglia.

This story is developing and may be updated. Find the Buffalo Police Department and Erie County Sheriff’s office on Twitter.