Tops gunman lawyers seek a dismissal for hate crime charge

Lawyers for Tops mass shooter, Payton Gendron were in court Wednesday, asking U.S. District Judge Lawrence Vilardo to dismiss one of the 27 counts in his indictment — the hate-crime charge.

Gendron carried out a racially motivated mass shooting targeted at Black people at a grocery store on May 14, 2022, killing 10 and injuring three.

It’s the last charge in the Federal indictment, and it specifically focuses on those who were not killed or injured by Gendron — but rather those who were in and around the store at the time of the shooting.

According to court documents, defense attorneys are arguing that the language used in the argument is too vague because it states that “Payton Gendron used a firearm to attempt to cause bodily injury to unnamed ‘Black people.’ “

Read more: WGRZ