Updated May 14, 2022 at 6:45 PM ET
A gunman wearing military-style clothing and body armor opened fire with a rifle at a supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y., killing 10 people in a shooting officials are investigating as a racially motivated hate crime. The alleged gunman has been taken into custody, law enforcement officials said.
A total of 13 people were shot at the Tops Friendly Market on Saturday afternoon, officials said at a press conference. Of the 13 victims, four were store employees, while the rest were customers. Two of the victims were white, said Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia; the rest were Black.
"It was straight up a racially motivated hate crime," said Erie County Sheriff John Garcia. "This was pure evil."
The supermarket is in a predominately Black neighborhood, about 3 miles north of downtown Buffalo. The surrounding area is primarily residential, with a Family Dollar store and fire station near the store.
Buffalo police have not publicly identified the suspect, but said he is an 18-year-old white male. He is not from the Buffalo area but is from another county in New York state.
The shooter live-streamed the incident on the platform Twitch, according to a spokeswoman for the company. Twitch did not say how many viewers the live-stream received, but the company says it is monitoring the platform for restreams of any parts of the graphic footage, which violates its rules against streaming violence.
Twitch has also indefinitely suspended the user from the service and is cooperating with law enforcement.
"We are devastated to hear about the shooting that took place this afternoon in Buffalo, New York. Our hearts go out to the community impacted by this tragedy," said Twitch spokeswoman Samantha Faught.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
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