Alleged Buffalo supermarket shooter charged with federal hate crimes

The white gunman who live-streamed the killing 10 black people at a Buffalo supermarket last month was indicted Wednesday on federal hate crime charges.

Alleged mass shooter Payton Gendron was charged with 26 counts of hate crimes and firearms offenses by the Western District of New York.

Court documents indicated that Gendron's motive for the mass shooting was "to prevent black people from replacing white people and eliminating the white race, and to inspire others to commit similar attacks." 

He has pleaded not guilty.

The 18-year-old wrote a note to his family, found after the May 14 attack, that he “had to commit this attack” because he was looking out “for the future of the White race,” according to an affidavit.

In Gerdon's live-stream of the attack, on the video-gaming site Twitch, he appears to spare a white customer in the store and apologize to him.  

He had driven over 200 miles to reach Buffalo where he had planned the attack for months.

Attorney General Merrick Garland is expected to speak Wednesday about the indictment.

The charges comes after 20 senators have agreed on a framework for better gun violence legislation in the wake of multiple mass shootings.