A new L.A. Times report pushed the idea Thursday that the hometown of Buffalo mass shooting suspect Payton Gendron could have fueled his murderous extremism because it's "90% white" and 60.3% voted for Donald Trump in 2020. The piece, written by L.A. Times staff writer Connor Sheets, took a deep dive into Conklin, New York. The rural upstate New York town that he observed is predominantly white, chock-full of conservatives who mistrust the media, and may be fueling hate because its community is so insular. Still, Sheets wrote, "she believes ‘people are brought up to hate,’ and that racism is not a rare trait in their hometown." Wong, who was fluent in Vietnamese, carried out the shooting inside a business where he had taken courses that year to improve his English," Sheets wrote.

Source: Los Angeles Times May 20, 2022 01:07 UTC