SHOPPERS and a security guard were among the 10 people shot dead in Buffalo, New York state, on Saturday in what police consider a racist massacre.

Police said today that white teenager Payton Gendron, who was arrested after shooting 13 people, 10 fatally, at Tops Friendly Market in a black neighbourhood, had travelled 200 miles from his home in Conklin, New York, to kill people.

He broadcast his killing spree live on streaming service Twitch, though the platform took down the broadcast within two minutes of it starting.

A racial epithet is believed to have been etched onto his rifle together with the number 14, a reference to a white supremacist slogan known as 14 Words. Reports that he had posted a racist manifesto online vowing to drive all people of non-European descent from the United States were not confirmed.

He pointed his gun at his neck when cornered by police but was persuaded to drop it and arrested, being arraigned on a murder charge without bail the same day. New York Governor Kathy Hochul said that she hoped he would spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Eight of the dead were black and the others were white. Victims included guard Aaron Salter, who fired at Mr Gendron but failed to penetrate his armour, Ruth Whitfield and Katherine Massey.

Erie County Sheriff John Garcia said the “pure evil” shootings were a “straight up, racially motivated hate crime from somebody outside of our community.”

Black Lives Matter tweeted: “Make no mistake – what we saw today was white supremacist violence. We must end white supremacy once and for all.”