A man has been escorted out of the Erie County Courthouse in New York Wednesday after rushing at Buffalo mass shooter Payton Gendron during his sentencing hearing.
Barbara Massey, whose sister Katherine Massey was among the 10 victims killed in the May 2022 attack, was delivering an emotional victim impact statement when a man dressed in gray clothing lunged at Gendron, forcing police to intervene.
"I want personally to choke you," Massey said at one point during her statement.
"My sister Katherine Massey was a great person. Kat didn't hurt anybody," she said, as an unidentified man in gray clothing walked up and started standing behind her. "You are goiing to come to our city and decide you don't like black people. Man, you don't know a damn thing about Black people. We're human."
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The man then grabbed Massey's shoulder and pushed her aside as he lunged at Gendron and his attorneys.
"Don't do it!" a voice is heard shouting as the court erupted in chaos and police entered the fray.
Gendron was seen being rushed out of the courtroom as police restrained the individual.
Prior to the statement, Gendron was pictured weeping as family members of the victims read their statements, with one calling him a "cowardly racist."
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Gendron, who is White, killed 10 Black people and wounded three others in a hate-fueled mass shooting at a Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo, New York, on May 18, 2022. He is expected to be sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to charges including murder and domestic terrorism motivated by hate, which carries an automatic life sentence.
After a pause, the sentencing hearing picked back up again with Gendron being escorted back into the courtroom.
"I am sure that you are all disturbed by the physicality that we've seen in the courtroom here today. And then I understand that emotion, and I understand the anger, but we cannot have that in the courtroom," Judge Susan Egan said.
"And I am prepared to give anyone that needs to speak an opportunity to speak. And I know that you need to address some of your comments to the defendant," she added. "But we must conduct ourselves appropriately because are all better than that."
