Jacksonville’s sheriff said the White gunman who had been involuntarily committed for his mental health “knew what he was doing” when he suited up in protective gear and fatally shot three Black people Saturday (Aug. 26) in a racist rampage at a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Fla.

The Associated Press reports that Sheriff T.K. Waters said Ryan Palmeter, 21, shot and killed

Angela Michelle Carr, 52, A.J. Laguerre, 19, and Jerrald Gallion, 29, at the store, located in a predominantly Black neighborhood, with weapons he bought legally.

According to authorities, Palmeter first parked his vehicle at Edward Waters University, a historically Black college. The sheriff said a video on TikTok showed him putting on a bullet-resistant vest. That caught the attention of a university security guard who parked near Palmeter and flagged down a Jacksonville sheriff’s officer after the gunman drove off.

Waters said Palmeter used an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and a Glock handgun in the shooting. Palmeter, wearing gloves and a mask, fired 11 shots through the windshield of Carr’s vehicle, killing her.

Next, he entered the store and fired at Laguerre, a store employee, video footage shows. That spurred people flee the store through the back door, the sheriff said. Palmeter chased and fired at them but missed. The gunman then re-entered the store and fatally shot Gallion who was entering with his girlfriend.

Law enforcement officers showed up about 11 minutes after the shooting spree began. Authorities said Palmeter killed himself when the police arrived.

During his shooting rampage, Palmeter, who lived with his parents in nearby Clay County, texted his father and asked him to break into his room, Waters said. His father found a suicide note, a will and what the sheriff described as “the diary of a madman” filled with racist writings.

In 2017, Palmeter was involuntarily committed for a mental health examination but was still able to purchase the guns recently.

“He was just completely irrational. But with irrational thoughts, he knew what he was doing. He was 100% lucid,” Waters said.

At a Sunday evening (Aug. 27) prayer vigil attended by about 200 people, Gov. Ron DeSantis was booed when he offered condolences to the victims’ families.

DeSantis is running for the Republican nomination for president on a far-right platform to bring his “anti-woke” agenda in Florida to the nation. As governor, he legalized carrying concealed guns without a permit, enacted legislation that defunds programs that promote diversity in public higher education, and prohibited public high schools from offering Advanced Placement  African American Studies in what his critics say is an attempt to whitewash a history of racism in America.