Our hearts go out to Buffalo. (via CNN)
The suspect is in custody in the shooting, which occurred Saturday afternoon at a Tops Friendly Markets store. Investigators are reviewing a purported manifesto posted online in connection with the mass shooting, two federal law enforcement officials told CNN. The shooting is being investigated as a hate crime and the FBI is assisting, said Stephen Belongia, special agent in charge of the FBI Buffalo field office, at the news conference.
Experts consider easy access to guns a root cause of the violence, and open-carry states lower the barrier for people to own and carry guns in public. But the spike in violence since summer 2020 has been general, across cities and states with lax and strict gun laws, with progressive and conservative prosecutors, as well as Republican and Democratic mayors and governors.