US mourns victims of racist mass shooting

NEW YORK: Shocked residents of Buffalo, New York gathered on Sunday at vigils and church services to mourn 10 people fatally shot by an alleged white supremacist in an act one official described as "domestic terrorism, pure and simple."

The suspected shooter, identified as 18-year-old Payton Gendron, was arrested at the scene, a grocery store in a predominantly Black neighborhood after police rushed to respond to emergency calls.

He had driven from his home town of Conklin, more than 200 miles (320 kilometers) away, police said. Gendron was arraigned late on Saturday on a single count of first-degree murder and held without bail, the Erie County district attorney’s office said. He pleaded not guilty.

Residents gathered outside the store for the vigil, while New York Governor Kathy Hochul, the state’s Attorney General Letitia James and Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown addressed a service at the city’s True Bethel Baptist Church.

In alternately angry and mournful tones, speakers denounced the latest eruption of racist violence and the ready availability of high-power guns in what has become a sadly familiar scene across America.