What we know about Buffalo supermarket shooting suspect Payton Gendron

BUFFALO (CNN) - The 18-year-old man who allegedly shot and killed 10 people at a Buffalo supermarket Saturday afternoon was motivated by hate, authorities said.

The Tops Friendly Market where the shooting took place is located in the heart of Buffalo's Black community and 11 of the 13 people shot by the White suspect were Black, officials said.

"This was pure evil," Erie County Sheriff John C. Garcia said at a Saturday news conference, calling the shooting a "straight up racially motivated hate crime from somebody outside of our community."

The US Department of Justice is investigating the shooting "as a hate crime and an act of racially-motivated violent extremism," according to a statement from US Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Payton Gendron of Conklin, New York, was charged with first degree murder Saturday, Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn said in a news release. Conklin is about a three-and-a-half hour drive from Buffalo.

He pleaded not guilty.

Here's what we know about the shooting suspect.

He was wearing tactical gear

Authorities say when the suspect arrived at the store around 2:30 p.m., he was heavily armed, wearing tactical gear, a helmet and had a camera that was livestreaming his actions.

The suspect used an assault weapon, Flynn said during the news conference.

In his news release, Flynn said the suspect shot four people outside of the grocery store, three fatally.

When he entered the store, he exchanged fire with an armed security guard, who authorities said was a retired Buffalo police officer.

The security guard died of his injuries.

The suspect shot eight more people in the store, six of whom died, the release said.

He legally purchased gun in New York

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said it's not clear if the suspect should have been prevented from being sold a gun in New York State, after it's emerged the gunman was once investigated over something he had written in high school.

Speaking to Margaret Brennan on CBS' Face the Nation on Sunday, Hochul was asked how the 18-year-old suspect was able to legally purchase a gun.

Earlier Sunday, Hochul told CNN the gun used in the Buffalo mass shooting where 10 people were killed on Saturday was purchased legally in New York State.

Speaking to CNN's Dana Bash on State of the Union, Hochul said the weapon was an AR-15.

She said it's believed the high-capacity magazine was purchased outside of New York.

Brennan asked, "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?"

Hochul 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."

Asked if the sale of the gun was an oversight by the State, Hochul 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."

She added, "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."

He allegedly livestreamed on Twitch

The popular livestreaming platform Twitch confirmed Saturday the shooting suspect used its platform to stream a live broadcast during the attack.

The company said it was "devastated" to hear about the shooting and added the user "has been indefinitely suspended from our service, and we are taking all appropriate action, including monitoring for any accounts rebroadcasting this content."

CNN obtained a portion of the livestream that shows the alleged shooter pulling up to a Tops store.

The video is recorded from the point of view of the alleged shooter as he is driving into the supermarket's parking lot.

The person is seen in the rearview mirror wearing a helmet and is heard saying, "Just got to go for it," before he pulls into the front of the store.

In the video, store patrons can be seen walking through the parking lot as the suspect drives up.

A spokesperson for Twitch said the company removed the livestream less than two minutes after the violence started.

The company did not immediately respond to follow-up questions about whether the suspect was actively firing when the livestream was halted.