The focus of the inquiry into the weekend shooting of more than a dozen people at a western New York supermarket will be on whether officials missed telltale indicators and red flags left by the adolescent gunman before to his racist killing spree on Monday.

Payton Gendron, 18, was charged with “racially motivated violent extremism” after opening fire with a semi-automatic weapon at the Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo on Saturday, injuring 11 of the 13 people.

“Make no mistake,” Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia told reporters on Sunday, “the evidence that we have unearthed so far makes no mistake this is an absolute racist hate crime that will be prosecuted as a hate crime.”

As facts of Gendron’s troublesome behavior in high school and his online presence began to emerge, authorities will focus on what may have been done to stop him, in addition to gaining a better understanding of his motives.

Gendron came to the attention of local law officials last June, when he was jailed after making a “generalized” threat at his high school, according to Gramaglia.

He was given a mental health evaluation and released after 1-1/2 days.

A 180-page manifesto thought to have been written by Gendron and disseminated online presented the “Great Replacement Theory,” a racist conspiracy theory that white people in the United States and elsewhere were being replaced by minorities.

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