Buffalo mass shooter being held in Livingston County Jail

ROCHESTER, N.Y. Buffalo mass shooter Payton Gendron, who shot and killed 10 people in a racist attack in May of 2022, is currently being housed in the Livingston County Jail.

Gendron was transferred to the facility after a federal court appearance on hate crimes charges on Thursday.

While Gendron has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on state charges, he is still facing federal charges for which he could face the death penalty.

Gendron was previously indicted on 27 federal counts, including 10 counts of hate crimes resulting in death, three for attempting to kill and injure three people and one for attempting to kill even more Black people at the Tops supermarket.

The other charges include firing or discharging a firearm. The U.S. attorneys will determine whether or not they will seek the death penalty. Gendron’s attorneys say he is ready to cut a deal and plead guilty to avoid death.

Family member Ebony White, whose uncle pastor Hayward Patterson was killed by Gendron in the mass shooting, says she doesn’t want the process rushed or botched.

“We talked about the humility, about how some of us didn’t want the death penalty,” White said. “That is not the desire of my family. And still, with all of the things that have happened to us as a race, we still have humility. I still found myself saying what a life loss. So enough there was 10 lives taken, there’s another life taken. His life is gone.”

Livingston County Sheriff Tom Dougherty won’t get into the specific details about how Gendron is being detained.

“I’d like to be able to tell you and be as transparent as possible, but when it comes to security and safety measures within the facility, I’m not going to comment on those things for him or anybody else,” he tells News10NBC.

Jennifer Lewke: How do you assess who you will take and who you will not?

Sheriff Dougherty: So, if the US Marshal asks us to take them, we typically take them. We have a good relationship back and forth and we have professional deputies who know what they’re doing, so I feel comfortable housing whoever it is. In this case, I’m not going to get into the specifics of how we’re housing this inmate but what I would say is every inmate that comes in is case by case.

Jennifer Lewke: How many federal inmates do you currently have?

Sheriff Dougherty: I’ve heard that from some residents, you know. I hear we have these federal inmates and they’re accused of really heinous crimes like this subject. And the simple answer is I said when I was running, we were going to treat the jail like a hotel and if there’s a vacancy we’re going to bring them. The county paid $28 million for it and so to offset those costs, the federal inmates have been that avenue.

Jennifer Lewke: How much do you get paid for housing them?

Sheriff Dougherty: They’re paying us $107 per day, per inmate, so you do the math at 60 inmates plus our transports that we do for them. Its roughly $2 million in revenue comes in by holding these federal inmates.

The judge showed Gendron no mercy Wednesday, giving him the highest New York sentencing. Now families await the decision of the penalty Gendron will face on the hate crime charges.