Joe Biden denounced Sunday “the hatred which remains a stain on the soul of America”, the day after a racist massacre which left ten dead, the majority of African-Americans, in Buffalo in New York State.
“A lone gunman equipped with weapons of war and with a soul filled with hatred, killed ten innocent people in cold blood”, said the American president in Washington, during a ceremony in memory of the police officers who died in the exercise of their functions.
“A stain on America’s soul”
“We must work together to fight the hatred that remains a stain on America’s soul,” he added.
An 18-year-old white man opened fire in a New York state supermarket on Saturday, killing at least 10, most of them African-Americans
The killer, who was heavily armed, was immediately arrested on the spot, initially prosecuted for “premeditated murder” and imprisoned. He was equipped with an “assault weapon”, a bulletproof vest, military-style clothing, a helmet and a camera to broadcast his crime live on the Internet, the authorities said. local police and judicial authorities.
Buffalo Police Chief Joseph Gramaglia reported “ten people killed” and three others injured. Eleven were black people and two were white, in this predominantly African-American neighborhood of Buffalo.
According to Commissioner Gramaglia, the killer first shot four people in the parking lot of the Tops supermarket, killing three of them, before entering the business and committing carnage there. There, a security guard, a retired policeman, shot the assailant but the latter, protected by his bulletproof vest, was not injured and shot the guard.
“A crime motivated by hate and racism”
When the police arrived very quickly on the scene, the young man turned his weapon against him, at the level of his neck, before surrendering to the police, according to Commissioner Gramaglia. The attack is “a racially motivated hate crime” perpetrated by “evil incarnate”, blasted Erie County Sheriff John Garcia.