Payton Gendron, aged 18, carried out the attack wearing a bullet-resistant armor and a helmet equipped with a livestreaming camera as he fired his bullets.
He killed his victims with a semiautomatic rifle, purchased legally but then modified so he could load it with high-capacity ammunition magazines that are illegal in New York.
There were only three survivors after he shot 13 people, specifically seeking out black shoppers and workers.
In documents posted online, Gendron said he hoped the attack would help preserve white power in the U.S.
He wrote that he picked the Tops grocery store, about a three-hour drive from his home in Conklin, New York, because it was in a predominantly black neighborhood.
While a life prison sentence is guaranteed for Gendron, he also faces separate federal charges that could carry a death sentence if the U.S. Justice Department chooses to seek it. New York state does not have the death penalty.
update: Erie County Court Judge Susan Eagan sentences Tops gunman Payton Gendron to life in prison without parole.
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