ALL-WHITE TOWN
The 18-year-old murder suspect is the son of two New York state engineers, Paul and Pamela Gendron.
They live in a modest two-story home, with a large, well-manicured lawn, down a quiet rural lane in Conklin, New York.
Nested on the winding Susquehanna River and surrounded by forests and small farms, Conklin has a handful of trucking and distribution centres, and the headquarters for an electronics company.
Its population of 5,000, according to the 2020 census, was 96 per cent white and just 0.6 per cent African-American.
Gendron finished high school in June 2021 after a rough 18 months of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, when students were often isolated in their homes with classes online and personal interactions more than ever confined to social media.
The New York Times quoted classmates saying he was generally quiet, even “reclusive,” and preferred courses online even when in-person classes resumed.
He had an interest in guns common among rural US teens. But by his final year authorities had received a warning about him.
Law enforcement officials said that last year, before graduating, Gendron said his plans for the future were undertaking a murder-suicide.
He was given a psychiatric assessment, and claimed he had been joking. Released after a few days, his case was apparently then forgotten until the massacre on Saturday.
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