Son of Buffalo shooting victim opposes death penalty for shooter
Mark Talley, the son of 62-year-old Geraldine Talley, who was killed in the 2022 supermarket mass shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., said he opposes the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) decision to seek the death penalty for the shooter.
“Speaking for myself, I disagree with the decision that was made today. Now, in no way I’m angry about it, because at the end of the day, this white supremacist’s life will be coming to an end,” Talley told CNN on Friday.
“I just don’t necessarily like how it’s going to come to an end. I mean, he’s going to know his death day, eventually. He’s going to be given a date in which he’ll no longer be here.”
He contrasted that with his mother, who did not know her last day was coming May 14, 2022, when Payton Gendron allegedly targeted Black shoppers in a racist attack.
Federal prosecutors announced Friday they will seek the death penalty for Gendron, who is serving life in prison after pleading guilty to state murder and domestic terror charges for killing 10 Black people in the shooting.
The federal case is centered on hate crime charges, as prosecutors allege he specifically targeted Black people. His lawyers previously said he would consider pleading guilty in the federal case if prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty.
Talley, author of the book “5/14: The Day the Devil Came to Buffalo,” said he opposes the prosecutors’ attempts to seek the death penalty because he would rather the shooter “rot in a supermax prison” or stay in the county jail near Buffalo.
“I want every second of the rest of his life to be in constant turmoil, not knowing if this is going to be the day that somebody tries to kill him because he tried to kill people that look like me,” Talley said.
“I want him to constantly feel that this could be the day he’s going to die. I want him to constantly know that [he’s] gonna be … possibly assaulted by multiple individuals with no guards around. I want everything and everyone that he’s ever loved to suffer.”
“I want his life, the rest of whatever life he has, to be filled with pain, misery and just unimaginable suffering,” he added.
Talley said the DOJ presented its decision to seek the death penalty with families in a professional manner.
Police said Gendron, who was 18 at the time of the shooting, was motivated by racist hate. A manifesto he published at the time of the attack included the “great replacement theory,” a white supremacist conspiracy theory.
He said he was inspired by previous racially motivated mass shooters. He traveled more than 200 miles from his home in Conklin to the supermarket in Buffalo because it is in a predominantly Black neighborhood, prosecutors said.
It is the first time Attorney General Merrick Garland has authorized pursuing the death penalty in a new case.