FBI called after ‘racially motivated’ shooting in Florida killed three black people | Florida

A shooting that killed three people Saturday at a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Fla., was racially motivated, officials said.

A white man, armed with a powerful rifle and a handgun, entered the discount store just before 2 p.m. and shot and killed two men and a woman, before committing suicide. All three victims are black.

Alejandro Mayorkas, the US Secretary of Homeland Security, condemned the shooting, saying his department was monitoring the situation closely.

“Too many Americans — in Jacksonville and across our country — have lost loved ones to racially motivated violence,” he said.

Jacksonville Sheriff TK Waters told a news conference that the shooter “hated black people,” adding, “there is absolutely no evidence that the shooter was part of any larger group.”

Waters said the shooter, in his 20s, used a Glock handgun and an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, with at least one of the guns painted with a swastika. He said the shooter left behind “several manifestos” for the media, his parents and law enforcement detailing his hatred of black people. The writings led investigators to believe he committed the shooting because it was the fifth anniversary of another shooting in Jacksonville.

“The hatred that motivated the shooter’s killing adds an extra layer of grief,” Waters said.

The shooter had driven in from neighboring Clay County. Shortly before the attack, the shooter had texted his father asking him to check his computer. The father found writing and the family called 911, but the shooting had already started, Waters said.

The sheriff said the shooter was seen at a nearby historically black university, Edward Waters University, where he donned his tactical vest and mask before heading to Dollar General, a discount chain with stores across United States.

“I can’t tell you what his state of mind was when he was there, but he went there,” the sheriff said.

Students were kept in their dorms, the school said in a statement. No students or teachers would be involved, the school said.

“This is a dark day in Jacksonville history. There is no place for hate in this community,” Sheriff Waters said. “I am sickened by the personal ideology of this cowardly gunman.” He said the investigation would continue and the shooter’s home was being searched.

Joe Biden and US Attorney General Merrick Garland have been briefed on the incident.

Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida, after talking on the phone with the sheriff, called the shooter a “bastard” and denounced his racist motives.

“This guy killed himself rather than face the music and accept responsibility for his actions. He chose a cowardly path,” said DeSantis, who was campaigning in Iowa for the Republican presidential nomination.

Penny Jones told The Associated Press that she worked at this Dollar General store until a few months ago. She lives a few blocks away, in a predominantly black neighborhood.

“I’m just waiting to hear from my colleagues that I worked with,” Jones said. “I don’t know if it’s safe to move around the neighborhood.”

Jones added that she “felt uneasy, scared”.

Sherri Onks, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Jacksonville office, said federal authorities have opened a civil rights investigation and will consider the incident a hate crime.

“Hate crimes are always and always will be a top priority for the FBI because they are not just an attack on a victim, they are also meant to threaten and intimidate an entire community,” Onks said.

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