Two men and a woman were killed in a racially-motivated shooting in Jacksonville, Florida on Saturday.
The gunman, a white male in his twenties, “hated Black people”, Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said.
The shooting took place at a Dollar General store just blocks from the historically-Black Edward Waters University. The gunman was initially seen near the library on the campus but security guards tried to take him into custody and he escaped.
Shortly before the shooting took place, the gunman’s parents called law enforcement to say they had found a manifesto, reported WJXT. The gunman had reportedly called his parents ahead of the attack and told them to look at his computer.
Sheriff Waters described those writings as a “disgusting ideology of hate”. He also confirmed that the three victims were Black.
The shooter, who had entered the store with an assault rifle covered in swastikas, shot and killed himself at the scene.
The Jacksonville shooting occurred on the 60th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis called the gunman a “scumbag” and described the shooting as “horrific”.
“He [the gunman] was targeting people based on their race, that is totally unacceptable,” said Mr DeSantis, who is competing to be the Republican party’s presidential candidate.
“This guy killed himself rather than face the music and accept responsibility for his actions and so he took the coward’s way out.”
In a statement provided to the BBC’s US partner, CBS News, Dollar General said it was “heartbroken by the senseless act of violence that occurred at our Kings Road store”, adding that “supporting our Jacksonville employees and the DG family impacted by this tragedy is a top priority as we work closely with law enforcement”.
Authorities have not released the shooter’s name.
“I’d love to identify him, but we’re not identifying him because we don’t have a positive identification,” Waters said in a Saturday evening news conference.
The shooter was described as a white male in his early 20s, Waters said.
The shooter is believed to have lived in Clay County, Florida, with his parents.
In 2016, he was involved in a domestic call that resulted in no arrests, Waters said.
In 2017, he was involved some kind of interaction with authorities under The Baker Act, Florida’s mental health law.
Source: BBC, news agencies.
