Florida shooting: Gunman who killed three black people in racist attack named
Ryan Palmeter, 21, has been identified as the gunman - Jacksonville Sheriff's Office/via ReutersA racist gunman shot dead three black people in a discount department store in Florida before taking his own life - as the United States endured a weekend marred by gun violence.One of the weapons used to kill the two men and one woman, in the largely black neighbourhood of Jacksonville, had swastikas drawn on it, the Sheriff’s Department said.Across the country over the weekend, a teenager was shot dead at a high school football game in Oklahoma, gunfire injured seven revellers at a Caribbean carnival in Boston and two women were shot at a baseball game in Chicago.The attack in Florida on Saturday came as the country marked the 60th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s March on Washington, where he delivered his famous “I Have a Dream speech” which inspired the Civil Rights movement.It also took place the day before the 63rd anniversary of “Axe Handle Saturday” when 200 Ku Klux Klan members
A racist gunman shot dead three black people in a discount department store in Florida before taking his own life - as the United States endured a weekend marred by gun violence.
One of the weapons used to kill the two men and one woman, in the largely black neighbourhood of Jacksonville, had swastikas drawn on it, the Sheriff’s Department said.
Across the country over the weekend, a teenager was shot dead at a high school football game in Oklahoma, gunfire injured seven revellers at a Caribbean carnival in Boston and two women were shot at a baseball game in Chicago.
The attack in Florida on Saturday came as the country marked the 60th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s March on Washington, where he delivered his famous “I Have a Dream speech” which inspired the Civil Rights movement.
It also took place the day before the 63rd anniversary of “Axe Handle Saturday” when 200 Ku Klux Klan members attacked black protesters who were holding a sit-in protesting at laws banning them from using whites-only restaurants and stores.
Jacksonville Sheriff T K Waters said the gunman, identified by police as Ryan Christopher Palmeter, 21, messaged his father before setting off for Jacksonville at 11.39am on Saturday, asking him to check his computer.
Finding hate-filled messages, he alerted the authorities, but by then the shootings had started.
The gunman first made his way to the campus of Edward Waters University, a historically black college.
Confronted by a security guard, the gunman refused to identify himself and, according to the university, left without incident.
Wearing body armour, while also carrying a handgun and semi-automatic rifle, he then made his way to the Dollar General Store, half a mile away, and opened fire on his victims before killing himself.
“This shooting was racially motivated, and he hated black people. He targeted a certain group of people and that’s black people. That’s what he said he wanted to kill. And that’s very clear,” Sheriff Waters said.
“This is a dark day in Jacksonville’s history,” he added. “Any loss of life is tragic, but the hate that motivated the shooter’s killing spree adds an additional layer of heartbreak.”
Sheriff Waters added that the guns were held legally.
Killer ‘took the coward’s way out’
Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor and Republican presidential candidate, who has faced criticism for easing gun laws in Florida, slammed the shooting.
“This was racially motivated,” Mr DeSantis said. “He was targeting people based on their race. That is totally unacceptable.
“This guy killed himself rather than face the music and accept responsibility for his actions. And so, he took the coward’s way out.”
The FBI said it had opened a civil rights investigation and was investigating the shootings as a hate crime.
President Joe Biden also condemned the shootings.
“We must say clearly and forcefully that white supremacy has no place in America,” he said.
“We must refuse to live in a country where Black families going to the store or Black students going to school live in fear of being gunned down because of the colour of their skin.
“Hate must have no safe harbour. Silence is complicity and we must not remain silent.”
A local pastor pleaded with the local community not to allow their grief to turn into range when he addressed his congregation at St. Paul AME Church, which is located about three miles from the crime scene.
“Our hearts are broken,” the Rev. Willie Barnes told 100 congregants on Sunday morning. “If any of you are like me, I’m fighting trying not to be angry.”
The shooting is the latest in a series of racist attacks targeting America’s black community. In 2015, a white gunman killed nine people at a bible study group in Charleston, South Carolina. He is currently on death row.
And in May 2022 a white teenager killed 10 black people in a live-streamed shooting rampage at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.
According to the latest figures released by the FBI, covering 2021, hate crimes increased by 11.6 per cent on the previous year.
Anti-black crimes, which accounted for 31.1 per cent of all incidents, represented the largest category of race-based hate offences.
The Jacksonville shootings were part of a continuing trend, said Wendy Via, co-founder of Global Project Against Hate and Extremism.
“Tonight, we’re grieving, but tragically not shocked, that there has been yet another racially motivated shooting in the US. A white man shot three people to death today solely because they were black.”
What's Your Reaction?
