We join with all Americans in a sense of shock and horror at this weekend’s mass shooting in Buffalo. News broke on Saturday that an 18-year-old man walked into a Tops grocery store armed with an assault-style rifle and murdered at least 10 people, horribly wounding others as well.

It’s impossible to understand the levels of hatred and rage that would consume someone barely out of childhood to commit such a heinous crime. It’s difficult to comprehend the grief and sorrow felt by the families, friends and neighbors of the victims whose lives were stolen.

“We’re wrapping our arms around the families of those whose lives were lost,” said City of Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown. “We’re standing strong as a community and working to not let this horrible act of hate detract from us being a loving, warm, welcoming community.

“Buffalo is a resilient community … after all of these mass shootings that have taken place in this country for different reasons, year in and year out, month in and month out, week in and week out, let Buffalo, New York, be the last place that this kind of mass shooting happens.”

Almost all of the victims in Saturday’s attack were Black. The perpetrator is reported to have posted a racist manifesto online. He drove more than 200 miles from his small town in Conklin, New York to carry out the attack. Among other charges, law enforcement officials may charge him with committing an act of terrorism.

“The evidence we have uncovered so far makes no mistake. This is an absolute racist hate crime that will be prosecuted as a hate crime. This is someone who has hate in their heart, soul and mind,” said Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia.

Mayor Brown says that Buffalo is hurting and seething right now as a community. We join him in that sentiment, as do Americans across this great nation of ours.

We don’t know exactly what causes this kind of sickness to permeate in America. Is it something wrong with the laws of our society, or are human beings just naturally inclined to such violence? Questions about gun control and racist ideology will undoubtedly be debated in the aftermath of this terrible tragedy.

The Buffalo News, writing in an emotional editorial on Saturday, described it as “a righteous and jumbled anger, crosscut with alarm and heartbreak and confusion about how to express it all.”

Law enforcement and prosecutors will now do their jobs. They will hold this individual responsible. As for the victims, they will try to deliver whatever kind of incomplete justice can be given.