Buffalo shooting: As details of suspect's plans surface, experts say finding hateful posts online is extremely difficult
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- We're learning more about the moments leading up to the hate-fueled Buffalo shooting that killed 10 people.
Investigators say the suspect posted his plans online before the attack, and as CBS2's Dick Brennan reports, it appears a plot was in the works for months.
CBS News reviewed more than 600 pages of messages the alleged gunman is believed to have written on the social media platform Discord, and the company confirms he was on the platform 30 minutes before the attack.
New York state Attorney General Letitia James says she's launching an investigation into the social media companies used by the suspected gunman in the Buffalo shooting. She tweeted that they include Twitch, 4chan, 8chan and Discord.
Messages by the suspect on Discord date back five months.
In a March post, the alleged gunman identified the Tops supermarket as "attack area 1," where he planned to "shoot all Blacks." Later that month, posts show he scoped it out in person and uploaded hand-drawn maps of the grocery store.
"In order for law enforcement to see content in a site like Discord or even private Facebook groups, they would have to be in that group at a particular time," CBS News technology reporter Dan Patterson said.
"Not only are there legal prohibitions ... there's the practicality of saying, 'How do we collect that?'" former FBI special agent Katherine Schweit said.
Discord says the suspect was posting to a private, invite-only channel. A small group was ultimately invited to it, just half an hour before the shooting began.
The company says it has an internal team that works to identify and remove extremist content, like hate speech and threats of violence, but the platform has around 150 million monthly users.
"It would've been very difficult for anyone outside of his direct community to find or interact with his posts," Patterson said.
Schweit says it's extremely difficult to find hateful posts online.
"Unless the American people get their head out of the sand and find a way to be aware of their children and their neighbors and their coworkers, we're never gonna solve this problem," Schweit said.
There's new information about an incident involving the suspect last year. Broome County District Attorney Michael Korchak says while attending an online class, the suspect made disturbing comments about murder and suicide but claimed he was joking. A teacher reported it.
"The state police took precautions and took the defendant to Binghamton General Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation," Korchak said.
We're told at that point, he was evaluated by a mental health professional and a short time later, he was released. Someone can only be committed to a facility if they are found to be dangerous, but that apparently didn't happen in this case.
