Accused gunman describes selling silver before buying ammo, 'illegal magazines'

Although he had no job, he was able to raise more than $3,500 to buy the gun, ammunition and body armor and other gear for his assault by selling silver coins and used outdoor equipment at a flea market.

Much of what he needed, he bought online, including the armor vest that Buffalo police said protected Gendron from a security guard’s bullet in the midst of his shooting spree.

And he was able to buy all that he needed without raising suspicion.

“My parents know little about me,” he wrote in February. “They don’t know about the hundreds of silver ounces I’ve had, or the hundreds of dollars I’ve spent on ammo. They don’t even know I own a shotgun or an AR-15, or illegal magazines.”

Gendron, 18, of Conklin, is now facing a first-degree murder charge for the mass shooting at a Tops Markets store on Jefferson that also wounded three others. 

Raising money

Gendron left a job at Conklin Reliable Market, a grocery store near his house in the Southern Tier, in September 2021, after just two months, according to a manager.

On a Sunday three months later, he made $1,488 selling silver coins and used outdoor gear at P&J Flea Market in Binghamton, Gendron wrote in an online account of his attack planning. 

He disliked many of the vendors at the flea market, saying they were scamming customers, and often used anti-Semitic slurs to describe them in his writing. Nevertheless, he returned to the flea market many times in the months that followed, sometimes selling and sometimes buying.

Online, he railed against the use of paper currency in anti-Semitic and anti-government diatribes. As much as possible, he relied on silver for his transactions.

Although the flea market was his most frequent haunt, he bought and sold in several other places, as well.

One day in early December, he visited a pawn shop, a coin shop and an antiques store near his house, buying $327 in silver, including three ounces of silver from the Virgin Islands; a Morgan silver dollar from 1880; and 13 “war nickels” minted in the 1940s, with higher than usual silver content, he wrote in the online account. 

In the weeks that followed, he said he made $250 selling British silver to someone he connected with on Reddit.

At times, he expressed regret for selling some of his gear for too little. There was a pair of boots he’d paid more than $200 for when they were new. He said he sold them for $30. He made $30 selling a sleeping bag that sells for more than $150 new, he wrote.

Buying online

Although he preferred using silver for his transactions, he realized he would need to make some purchases online, he wrote. He opened an account at Visions Federal Credit Union and got a debit card.

Gendron spent more than $1,000 on eBay for equipment, including a combat helmet, armor vest, military sunglasses and a GoPro camera that he planned to use to livestream the slaughter, according to his account. 

There was more that he would have liked to buy online, but was not able to.

“I wish I could just order ammo online but no NY sucks for all things gun related,” he wrote.

At times, he was barely able to bring in enough money to cover his expenditures. At one point in January, his debit card was declined. He owned $300 in Disney stock, he said, but ran into problems when he tried to sell it.

Referring to his bank account, at the end of March he wrote, “I already have been draining it these last few days and I know I have like $15 bucks in it right now.”