JACKSONVILLE, Florida - A man armed with a high-powered rifle and a handgun killed three people at a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Florida, on Saturday, before shooting himself, in what local law enforcement described as a racially motivated crime.
“He hated black people,” Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters told a press conference.
The suspect, whom Sheriff Waters described as a white male wearing a tactical vest, was not identified. He added that all three victims – two men and a woman – were black.
Sheriff Waters said the authorities believed the shooter acted alone and that before the shooting, he had authored “several manifestos” for the media, his parents and law enforcement detailing his hatred for black people.
The sheriff described his weapons as a Glock and an “AR-15 style” rifle, with swastikas on it, referring to a lightweight semi-automatic long gun often used in mass shootings.
“The hate that motivated the shooter’s killing spree adds an additional layer of heartbreak,” he said.
Ms Sherri Onks, special agent in charge of the Jacksonville Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) office, said federal officials had opened a civil rights investigation and would pursue the incident as a hate crime.
“Hate crimes are always and will always remain a top priority for the FBI because they are not only an attack on a victim, they’re also meant to threaten and intimidate an entire community,” she said.
Dollar General is an American chain of variety stores that, according to its website, offers “everyday essentials at affordable prices”. It has over 19,000 stores in 47 states.
US President Joe Biden and Attorney-General Merrick Garland were briefed on the incident.
Mass shootings have become commonplace in the United States, with more than 469 so far in 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The non-profit group defines a mass shooting as any in which four or more people are wounded or killed, not including the shooter.
Jacksonville Council member Ju’Coby Pittman, who described the incident as a tragedy, said she understood that the suspect had been killed.
“The people in this community, they’re hurting and they have every right to. You know, this makes no sense. I am very, very angry right now,” Ms Pittman told reporters at the scene. REUTERS
