Tops mass shooter to be sentenced on state charges Wednesday

(News 4 will stream the sentencing of the Tops mass shooter this morning on WIVB.com. Coverage is expected to begin at approximately 9 a.m.)

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) -- The man who committed the racist act of violence against those inside the Jefferson Avenue Tops Friendly Markets location on May 14 will be sentenced on state charges Wednesday morning.

Payton Gendron, now 19, is expected to be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. One of the 15 charges he pleaded guilty to in November, domestic act of terrorism motivated by hate, automatically carries that sentence.

On May 14 -- nine months ago Tuesday -- 10 people were killed and three others were injured when Gendron, a Broome County resident, opened fire inside the East Buffalo grocery store. Each person he killed was Black.

Here are the names of those who were killed in the act of domestic terrorism:

• Ruth Whitfield, 86
• Roberta Drury, 32
• Andre Mackniel, 53
• Aaron Salter, 55
• Heyward Patterson, 67
• Pearl Young, 77
• Katherine Massey, 72
• Margus Morrison, 52
• Geraldine Talley, 62
• Celestine Chaney, 65

In late November, Gendron admitted to the following state charges:

• domestic act of terrorism motivated by hate in the first degree
• murder in the first degree (10 counts)
• attempted murder in the second degree, as a hate crime (3 counts)
• criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, an armed felony

Gendron was the first person in New York to be indicted, as well as convicted, on the charge of domestic act of terrorism motivated by hate in the first degree. He had also been indicted on 10 counts of second-degree murder as a hate crime, but those counts were automatically dismissed due to his admission to the first-degree murder charges.

Gendron is expected to apologize for his actions at his sentencing after family members of the victims have a chance to share their victim impact statements. A family member whose mother was killed in the attack told News 4 he felt an apology would be an insincere attempt to avoid the death penalty in the federal case.