Teenager accused of killing 10 people sought advice on gun, armor

Payton Gendron, the 18-year-old accused of shooting and killing 10 people at a New York supermarket, appeared to have sought advice about the gear he would need to carry out violent acts from an online forum.

Data collected from the Discord chat server Plate Land showed a user named jimboboiii talking about guns and armor between Aug. 1, 2020 and Jan. 1, 2021. The user posted at least 83 messages on the chat server, including three messages of ammunition he purchased as well as a camouflaged plate carrier. According to information obtained by Unicorn Riot, the user also said he had access to items from the Vietnam War from his grandmother's house.

Law enforcement officials said Gendron streamed the attack on the Twitch livestreaming platform using the same username, jimboboii. The video has been removed from the platform.

Unicorn Riot also received copies of messages from messages where jimboboii was seen asking questions about how body armor could be defeated.

How many non-penetrative bullets like 9 19 rounds will it take to go through level 4 ceramic body armor? Would a 30 -- 06 M 2 alternative be better at penetrating armor than a regular M 2 ball? I mean the M 2 alternative i bought some at a gun store the other day, another question was read.

Gendron was accused of slapping the Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo, NY on Saturday afternoon while dressed in tactical gear and armed with an assault rifle. The 18-year-old shot 13 people, killed 10 and wounding three others before he surrendered to police. Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said 11 of the victims were Black and two were White.

Officials found a 180-sided manifesto believed to have been written by Gendron. The manifesto, which included the birth date and biographical details similar to that of the suspect, was posted to Google Docs on Thursday, two days before the shooting.

In the manifesto, the author claimed that he believed in the false replacement theory that white people around the world are being replaced by non-white people. According to NBC News, the theory has been used by white killers to justify violence against people of color.