Florida Hate Crime Claims Lives of 3 Black People
A white man armed with two guns – including one allegedly adorned with swastikas – entered a Dollar General store in a predominantly Black Jacksonville, Fla. neighborhood and opened fire Saturday (Aug. 26).
According to the Associated Press, the masked gunman, who remains unidentified, killed two men and one woman before turning the gun on himself. He used a Glock handgun and an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle in the attack. He was also wearing a bullet-resistant vest.
Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said in a news conference that the attack was definitely “racially motivated.”
“He hated Black people,” Waters said after reviewing the man’s writings, which were sent to federal law enforcement officials and at least one media outlet shortly before the attack. Waters added that the gunman acted alone and “there is absolutely no evidence the shooter is part of any larger group.”
The shooting took place only three-quarters of a mile from Edward Waters University, a small HBCU. Waters said that a university security officer saw the man near the school’s library and asked him to identify himself. When he refused, he was asked to leave. The man returned to his car.
It is not clear whether or not he intended to carry out an attack at the school. No students or staff are believed to have been injured.
Waters noted that the shooter was involved in a 2016 domestic violence incident and was once involuntarily committed to a mental hospital for examination. No further details on those past incidents were disclosed.
The shooter lived in neighboring Clay County with his parents. He reportedly texted his father before the attack telling him to check his computer, where he discovered racist writings. The family notified 911, but the shooting had already begun, according to law enforcement.
“This is a dark day in Jacksonville’s history. There is no place for hate in this community,” Waters said. “I am sickened by this cowardly shooter’s personal ideology.”
The FBI launched a federal civil rights investigation and will work with the sheriff’s office on its own investigation. The shooting has renewed calls for a federal bill to protect Black Americans against hate crimes.
Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan said she is “heartbroken” by the incident.
“This is a community that has suffered again and again. So many times this is where we end up,” Deegan said. “This is something that should not and must not continue to happen in our community.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called the shooter a "scumbag" and denounced his racist motivations. “This guy killed himself rather than face the music and accept responsibility for his actions. He took the coward’s way out," he said.
However, social media users quickly pointed out DeSantis' legislation and policies that caused the NAACP to label Florida "hostile to Black Americans" earlier this year. DeSantis is currently in Iowa campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination.
President Joe Biden was briefed on the Jacksonville shooting Saturday evening.
The shooting occurred within hours of the conclusion of a commemorative March on Washington in the nation’s capital, where organizers drew attention to the growing threat of hate-motivated violence against people of color.
It also occurred one day before the 63rd anniversary of one of Jacksonville’s most notorious racist incidents: “Ax Handle Saturday.”
On Aug. 27, 1960, a group of Black protesters were conducting a peaceful sit-in at a city park to protest Jim Crow laws that kept them out of white-owned stores and restaurants when they were attacked by 200 members of the Ku Klux Klan. Klan members hit the protesters with bats and ax handles as police stood by.
