Before New York Massacre, Teen Had Erratic Behaviour, Made Chilling Threat

Last spring, as the end of the academic year approached at Susquehanna Valley High School outside Binghamton in New York state, students were asked for a school project about their plans after graduation.

NEW YORK

Payton Gendron, a senior, said he wanted to commit a murder-suicide, said a law enforcement official briefed on the matter.

He claimed to be joking, the official said. But the state police were summoned to investigate and took Gendron, then 17, into custody on June 8 under a state mental health law, police officials said on Sunday.

The teen had a psychiatric evaluation in a hospital but was released within a couple of days, the officials said. Two weeks later, Gendron graduated and fell off investigators’radar.

Last Saturday, he resurfaced 320km away in Buffalo, New York, where authorities say he opened fire at a supermarket in a predominantly black area, killing 10 people and wounding three others in one of the deadliest racist massacres in recent US history.

After his rampage, Gendron put his gun to his neck. But two officers persuaded him to drop his weapon and surrender.