YouTube, Reddit and a body armor manufacturer were among the businesses that helped enable the gunman who killed 10 Black people in a racist attack at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket, according to a pair of lawsuits announced Wednesday.
The complementary lawsuits filed by Everytown Law in state court in Buffalo claim that the massacre at Tops supermarket in May 2022 was made possible by a host of companies and individuals, from tech giants to a local gun shop to the gunman’s parents. The suits were filed Tuesday on behalf of the son of a 65-year-old victim and a group of survivors who say they’re still traumatized more than a year later. Everytown Law is the litigation arm of Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund.
“I still live with those images every day. It’s a part of my life. For the rest of my life, I will have it in my mind,” Fragrance Harris Stanfield, who was working that day at Tops, said at a news conference. She is among the 16 employees and other survivors who are plaintiffs in one of the suits.
The other lawsuit was bought on behalf of Wayne Jones, the son of Celestine Chaney, who was killed while shopping for strawberry shortcake ingredients with her older sister.
Payton Gendron was 18 years old when he opened fire at the Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo on May 14, 2022, killing 10 Black people and wounding three other people. He had driven 200 miles (322 kilometers) from his home in Conklin, New York, after conducting online research to choose a target.
The lawsuits accuse the defendants of helping provide motivation, equipment or knowledge to the gunman.
RMA Armament is named for providing the body armor Gendron wore during the shooting. Vintage Firearms of Endicott, New York, is singled out for selling the shooter the weapon used in the attack. The lawsuit claims Mean LLC manufactured an easily removable gun lock, offering a way to circumvent New York laws prohibiting assault weapons and large-capacity magazines.
YouTube, named with…
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