Endicott Gun Shop Suspends Operations After Buffalo Mass Shooting

The operator of the Endicott store where a Conklin man bought the Bushmaster XM-15  rifle used to kill ten people in Buffalo has temporarily closed the business.

Robert Donald has said he sold the semiautomatic weapon to Payton Gendron within the past couple of months. Donald owns Vintage Firearms on South Nanticoke Avenue.

Authorities in Buffalo have said the 18-year-old Gendron used the rifle in the mass shooting at a Tops market on Saturday afternoon. Thirteen people were wounded. Three of them survived. Gendron has been charged with first-degree murder and is being held in Erie County.

Vintage Firearms has kept a low profile during the two decades it has been open in the Union District of Endicott. On Monday, a small handwritten sign posted in the store entrance indicated the store would be closed through next Sunday. According to the notice, the business plans to reopen on Monday.

Donald has not discussed his decision to suspend operations. He has not returned phone calls from WNBF News.

Donald has said the background check he ran on Gendron at the time of the gun sale revealed nothing to prevent the transaction.

State police had interviewed Gendron and his parents last June after Susquehanna Valley High School officials reported he had made a written statement indicating he wanted to commit a murder-suicide.

Gendron was held for a brief mental health evaluation during which he dismissed the remark as a "joke."

School district officials won't discuss the matter.

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