Accessory maker partially liable for 2022 Buffalo mass shooting

Buffalo, N.Y. (AP) — The maker of a gun accessory tied to a shooting that killed 10 people at a supermarket in Buffalo will pay $1.75 million to survivors and victims’ families and stop selling the device in New York.

The agreement with Georgia-based Mean Arms settles a lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Latitia James and covers claims from various victims’ families and survivors of the 2022 attack at Tops Friendly Market. They also reached agreements to resolve their own separate suits against gunman Payton Gendron’s family and a gun seller, Vintage Firearms LLC, the plaintiffs’ lawyers announced Wednesday.

The claims against Mean Arms focused on an item that locks a magazine onto a rifle. The lock is supposed to keep people from swapping in high-capacity magazines, which are illegal in New York.

But according to James, Gendron easily removed the lock from an AR-15-style rifle and was able to add high-capacity magazines. She also said the company provided step-by-step instructions on the back of its product packaging on how to remove the lock.

“Everytown Law, which helped represent some survivors and victims’ relatives, said in a statement that Vintage Firearms has permanently closed and its owner has agreed to refrain from obtaining a federal firearms license in the future. Eric Tirschwell of Everytown Law said its clients’ settlements with Gendron’s parents were confidential.

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Attorneys for the gunman’s parents and Vintage Firearms declined to comment.

Authorities say Gendron, who is white, targeted Tops, a supermarket in a predominantly Black neighborhood, for the attack. Gendron is serving a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty in November 2022 to multiple state charges including murder.

A trial is expected to begin this year. Gendron has pleaded not guilty. The Justice Department said it would seek the death penalty.