Joe Biden has called on all Americans to reject the “poison” of white supremacy following a “racially-motivated” mass shooting at a US supermarket.
The US president and the first lady have paid their respects at a makeshift memorial after the deadly attack in and around the store in the city of Buffalo.
Mr Biden and his wife Jill met families of the 10 victims who were all black, as well as first responders and local officials.
The couple laid a bouquet of flowers at the memorial of blossoms, candles and messages of condolence, outside the Tops store in New York state.
Three other people were injured in last Saturday’s massacre, which police say was “racially motivated”.
In a speech in Buffalo, Mr Biden condemned the “poison” of white supremacy, saying: “In America, evil will not win, I promise you. Hate will not prevail, white supremacy will not have the last word.”
He added: “Now is the time for the people of all races, from every background, to speak up as a majority in America and reject white supremacy.”
Buffalo shooting: Red flags were raised about suspected gunman before killing spree
Buffalo supermarket shooting: ‘Hero’ security guard and shoppers among 10 victims named by police
Buffalo shooting ‘carried out by sick, demented individual fuelled by diet of hate’ who is now on suicide watch
The president also referred to mass shootings in recent years in Charleston in South Carolina, El Paso in Texas, Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, as well as last week in Dallas.
“These actions we’ve seen in these hate-filled attacks represent the views of a hateful minority. We can’t allow them to distort America, the real America. We can’t allow them to destroy the soul of the nation.”
Read more:
‘Hero’ security guard and shoppers among 10 victims named
Gunman live-streamed ‘racially-motivated’ mass shooting
On Saturday, a young man armed with an assault rifle targeted black people in the deadliest racist attack in the US since Mr Biden took office in 2021.
Authorities are calling the shooting an act of “violent extremism” motivated by racial hatred.
Mr Biden said the gunman was fuelled by “hate that through the media and politics, the internet has radicalised angry alienated, lost and isolated individuals into falsely believing that they will be replaced… by people who don’t look like them”.
Replacement theory is a racist ideology that alleges white people are being intentionally “replaced” through immigration.
Suspected white supremacist Payton Gendron, 18, was arrested at the supermarket and charged with murder. He has pleaded not guilty.
Before the shooting, Gendron is reported to have posted an online diatribe full of racism and antisemitism.