The college said in a statement to NPR that he is not currently enrolled at the school. The document's author claims to be a student at the State University of New York's Broome Community College. The document's author calls the New Zealand shooter his biggest source of inspiration. The same hateful conspiracy theory was championed by the gunman who perpetrated the massacre of 51 people in New Zealand mosques in 2019.

Stephen Belongia, the FBI Special Agent in Charge of the Buffalo field office, said the agency is investigating the shooting as a hate crime and 'an instance of racially motivated violent extremism.' Federal authorities are also looking at possible terrorism charges. He's scheduled to make a court appearance on Thursday. The suspect pleaded not guilty and was held without bail. If convicted, a first-degree murder charge holds a sentence of life without parole, said Erie County District Attorney John Flynn during a Saturday evening briefing. He is from Conklin, N.Y., a community located southeast of Binghamton that's a more than 3-hour drive away from Buffalo.

Kathy Hochul called the gunman a 'white supremacist who has engaged in an act of terrorism.'Ī public information officer with the Erie County District Attorney's Office named the suspect as 18-year-old Payton S. 'It was straight up a racially motivated hate crime,' said Erie County Sheriff John Garcia.

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