U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris says the nation is seeing “an epidemic of hate” after a white gunman shot 10 people to death in a Buffalo supermarket

Harris says ‘racially-motivated hate crimes or acts of violent extremism are harms against the whole country’.

Buffalo police believe the incident was a racist hate crime and the person responsible will be prosecuted as such.

18-year-old Payton Gendron is the suspect in custody, with authorities revealing the individual had previously been given a mental health evaluation before being released a day later.

The suspect allegedly opened fire at the Tops Friendly Markets store in a predominately Black area on Saturday, leaving 10 dead and a further three people wounded.

Buffalo’s Police Commissioner says the suspect was armed with an assault-style rifle and body armour when he opened fire.

Authorities say the suspect was also live-streaming the attack on social media platform Twitch, and the company has since taken the post down.

Gendron surrendered to police and was taken into custody at the scene, charged with first-degree murder… before pleading not guilty in court.

The Buffalo attack is the deadliest U.S. mass shooting of the year, with at least 198 mass shootings so far in 2022.

New York’s Governor has pledged to introduce previously planned gun control legislation to address legal loopholes.