After it was revealed that the gunman, Payton Gendron, was once probed for something he wrote in high school, New York Governor Kathy Hochul said it’s unclear whether the suspect should have been barred from buying a gun in the state.
The Governor said the 18-year-old suspect was able to legally acquire a pistol by Margaret Brennan on CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday.
Hochul told reporters on Sunday that the gun used in the Buffalo mass shooting, which killed ten people on Saturday, was lawfully acquired in New York State.
She stated the rifle was an AR-15 to reporters that the high-capacity magazine, was purchased outside of New York.
Brennan questioned;
“You’ve said it was legally obtained, you’ve also said that the shooter had been, at one point, under the surveillance of medical authorities because of past comments he had made about carrying out a shooting. How was he allowed to buy and to hold on to that weapon?”
She responded;
“That is exactly what is being investigated now. I understand that he wrote something when he was in high school and that was being investigated. So we’re going to get to the bottom of that.”
When asked if the sale of the pistol was due to a State oversight, she said; “We don’t know that right now. But I’m going to get to the bottom of it and find out right now. It would have happened a while back.”
“Apparently he was investigated when he was a high school student, brought to the attention of the authorities.
“He had a medical evaluation based on something he had written in school and so we’re going to find out what happened in the aftermath.” she added.
