Sheriff: Shooter had mental exam, background check
Official tells how white man killed 3 Black people in Fla.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A 21-year-old white man fatally shot three Black people in Florida with guns he bought legally despite once being involuntarily committed for a mental health exam, the local sheriff said Sunday.
Ryan Palmeter shot one of his victims as she sat in her car outside a Jacksonville store; shot another just after Palmeter entered the store; and shot the third minutes later, Jacksonville’s sheriff said. Palmeter killed himself after killing the three victims.
The gunman used an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and a Glock handgun, Sheriff T.K. Waters said during a news conference.
Palmeter had legally purchased his guns in recent months even though he had been involuntarily committed for a mental health examination in 2017.
Waters identified those shot in Saturday’s attack at a Dollar General as Angela Michelle Carr, 52, who was shot in her car; store employee A.J. Laguerre, 19, who was shot as he tried to flee; and customer Jerrald Gallion, 29, who was shot as he entered the store, which is in a predominantly Black neighborhood.
Palmeter lived with his parents in neighboring Clay County and had texted his father during the shooting and told him to break into his room, Waters said.
The father then found a suicide note, a will and writings that Waters has described as racist.
Waters said the guns were bought in April and June, with the dealers following all the laws and procedures, including background checks.
Because Palmeter was released after his mental health examination, that would have not shown up on his background checks.
On Saturday before 1 p.m., Palmeter parked at Edward Waters University, an historically Black college less than a mile from the Dollar General. The sheriff said he posted a TikTok video of himself donning a bullet-resistant vest and gloves. It was about this time that a university security guard spotted Palmeter and parked near him.
Palmeter drove off, and the security guard flagged down a Jacksonville sheriff ’s officer who was about to send out an alert to other officers when the shooting began at the store.
The sheriff said Palmeter, wearing his vest covered by a shirt, gloves and a mask, first stopped in front of Carr’s vehicle and fired 11 shots with his rifle through her windshield,
killing her.
He entered the store and turned to his right, shooting Laguerre, video shows.
Numerous people fled through the back door, the sheriff said. He chased after them and fired, but missed. He went back inside the store and found Gallion entering the front door with his girlfriend. He fatally shot Gallion. He then chased a woman through the store and fired, but missed.
About a minute later, Palmeter entered the store’s office and texted his father, telling him to use a screwdriver to break into his room. On his computer, writings that the sheriff has described as racist were found addressed to his family, federal law enforcement and the media.
Eleven minutes after the shooting began, and as police entered the store, Palmeter killed himself.
“Our community is grappling to understand why this atrocity occurred,” Waters said. “I urge us not to look for sense in a senseless act of violence.”
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement Sunday that the Justice Department was “investigating this attack as a hate crime and an act of racially motivated violent extremism.”
Earlier Sunday, the pastor of a church near the site of the shooting told congregants to follow Jesus Christ’s example and keep their sadness from turning to rage.
The latest in a long history of American racist killings was at the forefront of services at St. Paul AME Church, 3 miles from the crime scene. Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan wept during the service, while other attendees focused on Florida’s political rhetoric and said it has fueled racist attacks.
“Our hearts are broken,” the Rev. Willie Barnes told about 100 congregants. “If any of you are like me, I’m fighting trying to not be angry.”
Deegan cried as she addressed the congregation.
“I’ve heard some people say that some of the rhetoric that we hear doesn’t really represent what’s in people’s hearts, it’s just the game. It’s just the political game,” Deegan said. “Those three people who lost their lives, that’s not a game.”
Elected officials said racist attacks like Saturday’s have been encouraged by political rhetoric targeting “wokeness” and policies from the GOP-led state government headed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, including one taking aim at the teaching of Black history in Florida.
“We must be clear, it was not just racially motivated, it was racist violence that has been perpetuated by rhetoric and policies designed to attack Black people, period,” said state Rep. Angie Nixon, a Jacksonville Democrat and one of several elected officials to speak during the church service.
DeSantis, who returned to Florida on Sunday from Iowa, where he was campaigning for the GOP presidential nomination, said Floridians “condemn the horrific racially motivated murders perpetrated by a deranged scumbag.”