Buffalo shooting: financing terrorism

Attack profile of the Buffalo shooting

On Saturday, Payton Gendron was arrested after killing ten people at a supermarket in the city of Buffalo. Police are investigating the incident as both a hate-crime and as a case of ideologically-motivated violent extremism. I’ve taken some time to read his manifesto and transcripts of his Discord, and analyzed the financing of the attack. He purchased a lot of tactical gear in preparation for his attack, and acquired three weapons and ammunition. He self-financed his attack, and was constrained to some extent by lack of funds. I’ve outlined a few more details, and how this attack compares to others below.

Gendron was clearly motivated by hate – he wrote extensively about his hatred of Jews, the great replacement conspiracy theory, IQ differences between white and black people, etc. His writings are fundamentally white supremacist, and he himself acknowledges that he is a white supremacist and a fascist. He specifically chose a target that would maximize the number of non-white victims. I’ll save you further details, but this was highly likely an act of ideologically-motivated violent extremism.

Gendron had been buying ammunition, surplus military gear, and undertaking “training” (shooting) for a few years before the attack. It appears as though he was planning for some type of incident during this period, but that the specific attack plan only became concrete in early 2022. Throughout his writings, he regularly expressed concern about lack of money to buy the best gear (or the gear he wanted). He also talks about the possibility of banks freezing accounts and government control of money.