Jacksonville shooter may have planned to target different dollar store – live – The Independent

NewsWorldAmericasUS Crime NewsThree killed in mass shooting at Dollar General store just blocks from historically-Black Edward Waters University on Saturday afternoon Ron DeSantis booed by mourners at Jacksonville vigil after racist shooting

Sign up to our free US news bulletin sent straight to your inbox each weekday morningSign up to our free morning US email news bulletinThe gunman who killed three people in a racially motivated attack at a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Florida, may have originally planned to target a different store, it has been revealed. Surveillance footage shows the gunman arriving at a Family Dollar store at around 12.23pm on Saturday.Dressed in a mask, he held the door open for Black customers entering and exiting and briefly entered but then left without carrying out an attack.Jacksonville Sheriff TK Waters told reporters in a press conference that the shooter, identified as 21-year-old Ryan Palmeter, then went to Edwards Waters University where he was turned away by a security guard. He then went to the Dollar General store – around a mile from the first store – where he shot and killed three people: Angela Michelle Carr, 52, Anolt Joseph “AJ” Laguerre Jr, 19, and Jarrald De’Shaun Gallion, 29.As details emerge about the shooting, governor Ron DeSantis has come under fire in the wake of the gun violence in the state where he has loosened gun laws.At a vigil on Sunday, the crowd booed Mr DeSantis, forcing him to step back from the microphone.1693317644Police reveal new information about the gunman Jacksonville County sheriff TK Waters revealed in a press conference on Monday evening that detectives have discovered new information about the gunman accused of killing three people in a racially motivated shooting this past weekend. The gunman, identified as 21-year-old Ryan Palmeter, previously worked at a similar discount store to the one he targeted.“We have confirmed that the shooter previously worked at a Dollar Tree store from October 2021 through July 2022 in the OakLeaf area,” Mr Waters said.

The information comes as investigators discovered the gunman went to a Family Dollar store before going to a Dollar General.Ariana Baio29 August 2023 15:001693315814HBCU president praises students and officer for stopping Jacksonville shooterA campus security officer tipped off by observant students likely stopped the killer who fatally shot three people at a nearby Dollar General Store from carrying out his racist attack at Edward Waters University, the president of the historically Black institution said Monday.Students reported seeing a young, white man, pull into a campus library parking lot in Jacksonville, Florida, and begin putting on tactical gear, EWU president Zachary Faison Jr said. They immediately flagged down a security officer who was on patrol to tell them what they saw.The officer approached the car on foot when the driver — who would later be identified as the gunman — sped off, hitting a curb and narrowly avoiding a brick column, Mr Faison said. The campus officer, who the campus president called a hero, then called the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and shared the description of the vehicle.Minutes later, the gunman made his way to a Dollar General Store down the road and killed Angela Michelle Carr, 52, an Uber driver who was shot in her car; store employee AJ Laguerre, 19, who was shot as he tried to flee; and customer Jerrald Gallion, 29, who was shot as he entered the store in the predominantly Black New Town neighborhood.“It’s not just on a whim that he chose to come to Florida’s first historically Black college or university,” said Mr Faison, who expressed condolences to the families of the victims and confirmed none were part of the university.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.Ariana Baio29 August 2023 14:301693314000ICYMI: Ron DeSantis is booed by mourners as he attends Jacksonville vigil after racist shootingFlorida governor Ron DeSantis was heckled at a vigil held for the three victims of a racially motivated mass shooting in Jacksonville.Alisha Rahaman Sarkar reports:Ariana Baio29 August 2023 14:001693310400Watch: Ron DeSantis calls Jacksonville shooter a ‘scumbag’ after racially motivated attackRon DeSantis calls Jacksonville shooter a ‘scumbag’ after racially motivated attackAriana Baio29 August 2023 13:001693303200Kamala Harris: The US is experiencing an ‘epidemic of hate’Vice President Kamala Harris said the US is experiencing an “epidemic of hate” in response to the shooting in Jacksonville, Florida. “Let us continue to speak truth about the moment we are in: America is experiencing an epidemic of hate. Too many communities have been torn apart by hatred and violent extremism,” Ms Harris said.“Too many families have lost children, parents, and grandparents. Too many Black Americans live every day with the fear that they will be victims of hate-fueled gun violence—at school, at work, at their place of worship, at the grocery store. Every person in every community in America should have the freedom to live safe from gun violence. And Congress must help secure that freedom by banning assault weapons and passing other commonsense gun safety legislation,” Harris said in her statement.”Ariana Baio29 August 2023 11:001693299600Everything we know about the Florida Dollar General Shooting“This is a dark day in Jacksonville’s history. There is no place for hate in this community,” the sheriff said. “I am sickened by this cowardly shooter’s personal ideology.”Kelly Rissman reports:Ariana Baio29 August 2023 10:001693296000Victims’ family snub call for BidenPresident Joe Biden told reporters on Monday that he has not contacted the families of the Jacksonville shooting victims yet adding that one family said they did not want Mr Biden to contact them.The president said he spoke with leaders in Jacksonville and the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, about the shooting and asked if it was appropriate for him to speak to the families of victims.

Mr Biden said he had not reached out to victims’ families just yet, adding that one family declined to speak with him.“Two of [the families] are prepared to be contacted, one does not want to be contacted,” Mr Biden said.“I’m just letting things settle because everyone deals with profound loss in a different way and it’s important – know from experience, it’s important to try and do it in a way that is most helpful and eases the anxiety the most so I haven’t spoken to them yet,” he added.Anolt “AJ” Laguerre Jr, 19, Jerrald De’Shaun Gallion, 29, and Angela Michelle Carr, 52, were all killed in the tragedy after a white gunman opened fire in front and inside of the store with the intention of killing Black people.Ariana Baio29 August 2023 09:001693288800Jacksonville killings refocus attention on the city’s racist past and the struggle to move onJacksonville is home to nearly one million people, about a third of them Black, just south of Florida’s border with Georgia. The city is still coming to terms with its Southern heritage while trying to become more cosmopolitan in the shadows of the state’s other major cities: Miami, celebrated for glitzy nightlife and inviting beaches, and Orlando, home to the world-renowned Disney World and Universal theme parks.In recent years there were signs Jacksonville was changing, and it might still be.Jacksonville elected its first Black mayor in 2011. A couple years later, there was another watershed moment when a coalition of activists succeeded in persuading the school board, after years of failed attempts, to rename a high school honoring Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate general and the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.Since then, the city has continued to sever ties to the racist past by removing a Confederate soldier statue atop a memorial in a park bordering City Hall. The excision was finalized by Jacksonville’s former mayor, a Republican who once served as his party’s statewide chair.

Donald Trump took Duval County in the 2016 presidential election. Two years later, a Black Democratic candidate running for governor, Andrew Gillum, won the county but narrowly lost statewide to now-Gov. Ron Desantis.“It feels some days like we’re going backward,” Deegan said through tears Sunday while addressing a congregation at St. Paul AME Church, 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) from the site of the shooting.The Associated Press contributed to this reportAriana Baio29 August 2023 07:001693281600ICYMI: Florida shooting latest as police reveal attack was ‘racially motivated’ and gunman ‘hated black people’A shooting in Florida that killed three people was “racially motivated” and the shooter “hated black people”, police have confirmed.Two men and one woman were shot dead in a Dollar General store in Jacksonville by a man in his early 20s.Jacksonville’s sheriff said the suspect, an unidentified white man in his 20s, “targeted black people” in the shooting before killing himself.“Plainly put, this shooting was racially motivated and he hated black people,” Sheriff T K Waters said at a news conference.Sheriff Waters said the gunman used a Glock handgun and an AR-15 style rifle emblazoned with swastikas during his killing spree which occurred shortly before 2pm local time.Gunman kills three people in ‘racially motivated’ shooting in Florida, sheriff saysAriana Baio29 August 2023 05:001693274454Mike Pence offers solution to mass shootings: ‘Expedited death penalty’Ariana Baio29 August 2023 03:00

SOURCE: Independent