The shooting in Jacksonville that was enacted by a gunman who targeted Black people was revealed to be a white supremacist by authorities investigating the matter. The shooting took place over the weekend, claiming three victims and officials are still piecing together the evidence leading up to the fatal event.
The shooting took place Saturday afternoon at a Florida Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Fla. around 2 PM local time.
Jacksonville County Sheriff T.K. Waters shared in a news conference that the shooter left behind disturbing messages on his computer and that he altered his father about where to find his writings ahead of firing a rifle similar in scope to an AR-15 weapon inside the store. The gun, according to reports, was adorned with swastikas, and the shooter was also armed with a handgun.
“This shooting was racially motivated and he hated Black people,” Sheriff Waters, who is Black, said over the weekend at the news conference. “He wanted to kill n*ggers.”
According to a report from the Associated Press, the 21-year-old white male shooter took his own life shortly after the shooting. While details of his manifestos have not been shared publicly since this is a recent matter, authorities say that his writings were motivated by racist ideology and hate speech.
Gov. Ron DeSantis attended a Sunday afternoon vigil in honor of the three Jacksonville shooting victims but was loudly booed when he took the microphone to speak to the crowd. DeSantis, who is Republican and running for his party’s presidential nomination, has made obtaining high-powered guns easier in the state due to freeing up gun laws and has been critical of issues important to Black people such as critical race theory.
Sheriff Waters identified the names of the victims during the press conference. Angela Carr, 52, was shot while sitting in her care. Dollar General employee A.J. Laguerre, 19, was shot as he tried to run away. Customer Jerrald Gallion, 29, was shot as he entered the Dollar General.
The gunman’s name has not been revealed.
[h/t NewsOne]
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Photo: Getty
