3 Black People Killed In Jacksonville Store By White Shooter: Sheriff

JACKSONVILLE, FL — Three Black people were fatally shot Saturday inside a Jacksonville, Florida, Dollar General store, the sheriff said at a news conference. The masked white shooter, who was in his 20s, was racially motivated, and killed himself after the attack.

The gunman left behind racist writings, officials said.

“He hated Black people,” Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters told a news conference. “There is absolutely no evidence the shooter is part of any larger group.”

Waters said the shooter used a Glock handgun and an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle with at least one of the firearms painted with a swastika. He was wearing a bullet-resistant vest.

The two men and one woman who were killed were Black, Waters said. Officials didn’t immediately release the names of the victims or the shooter.

The sheriff said the gunman's writings led investigators to believe he committed the shooting because it was the fifth anniversary of when another gunman opened fire during a video game tournament in Jacksonville, killing two people before fatally shooting himself.

The shooting happened just before 2 p.m. at a Dollar General near Edward Waters University, a small historically Black university.

Sheriff Waters said the suspect was seen on campus shortly before the shooting, putting on his vest and a mask.

“I can't tell you what his mindset was while he was there, but he did go there," the sheriff said.

The shooter had driven there from neighboring Clay County. Shortly before the attack, the shooter had sent his father a text message telling him to check his computer. The father found writings and the family notified 911, but the shooting had already begun, Sheriff Waters said.

Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan said she is “heartbroken.”

“This is a community that has suffered again and again. So many times this is where we end up,” Deegan said. “This is something that should not and must not continue to happen in our community.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis, after speaking by phone with the sheriff, called the shooter a “scumbag" and denounced his racist motivation.

“This guy killed himself rather than face the music and accept responsibility for his actions. He took the coward's way out,” said DeSantis, who was in Iowa campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination.

Both President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland were briefed on the shooting, officials said.

Penny Jones told The Associated Press that she worked at the store until a few months ago. She lives a few blocks away in the predominantly Black neighborhood.

“I’m just waiting to hear about my co-workers that I used to work with,” Jones said. “I don’t know if it’s safe to move about the neighborhood.”

Jones added that she was “feeling awkward, scared.”

"I don’t want to leave my house. I’m thinking, do I want to go back to the store? Is this going to start happening more frequently? I don’t know what the cause of it is. I’m confused. It’s a lot of different feelings going on right now,” she said Saturday afternoon.

Edward Waters University students were being kept in their dorms, the school said in a statement. No students or faculty are believed involved, the school said.

Further details were not immediately available. The city says it and the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office will hold a press conference shortly.

The shooting happened five years to the day when a gunman opened fire during a video game tournament in Jacksonville, killing two people before fatally shooting himself.