A white man armed with a high-powered rifle and a handgun killed three Black folks at a Greenback Basic retailer in Jacksonville, Florida, on Saturday, earlier than taking pictures himself, in what native regulation enforcement described as a racially motivated crime.
“This taking pictures was racially motivated, and he hated Black folks,” Jacksonville Sheriff TK Waters advised a press convention.
The suspect, whom Waters described as a white male sporting a tactical vest, was not recognized. Waters mentioned all three victims – two males and a lady – had been Black.
Waters mentioned authorities believed the shooter acted alone, and that earlier than the taking pictures he had authored “a number of manifestos” for media, his mother and father and regulation enforcement detailing his hatred for Black folks.
Learn A minimum of 6 lifeless in US faculty taking pictures
Waters described his weapons as a Glock and an “AR-15 model” rifle, with swastikas on it, referring to a light-weight semi-automatic lengthy gun typically utilized in mass shootings.
“The hate that motivated the shooter’s killing spree provides a further layer of heartbreak,” Waters mentioned.
He mentioned the shooter was noticed at an area traditionally Black faculty, Edward Waters College, the place he placed on his vest and a masks earlier than going to the native department of Greenback Basic, a reduction chain with shops throughout the USA.
Sherri Onks, particular agent answerable for the Jacksonville FBI workplace, mentioned federal officers had opened a civil rights investigation and would pursue the incident as a hate crime.
“Hate crimes are all the time and can all the time stay a high precedence for the FBI as a result of they aren’t solely an assault on a sufferer, they’re additionally meant to threaten and intimidate a complete neighborhood,” Onks mentioned.
US President Joe Biden and Lawyer Basic Merrick Garland had been briefed on the incident.
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Mass shootings have turn into commonplace within the US, with greater than 469 to date in 2023, in keeping with the Gun Violence Archive. The nonprofit group defines a mass taking pictures as any wherein 4 or extra persons are wounded or killed, not together with the shooter.
Saturday’s incident in Jacksonville bears similarity to final 12 months’s taking pictures in Buffalo, the place a white supremacist killed 10 Black folks, and came about 5 years after one other gunman opened fireplace throughout a online game event in Jacksonville, killing two folks earlier than taking pictures himself.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis condemned the taking pictures and the shooter took “the coward’s manner out”.
“The taking pictures, based mostly on the manifesto that they found from the scumbag who did this, was racially motivated. He was concentrating on folks based mostly on their race. That’s completely unacceptable,” DeSantis mentioned.