A White gunman who killed three Black people at a Jacksonville Dollar General store Saturday legally purchased the two firearms used in the racially motivated attack, local law enforcement confirmed.
The man, identified Sunday as 21-year-old Ryan Christopher Palmeter of Clay County, Fla., on Saturday drove to Edward Waters University, a historically Black college, but was refused entry, according to the school. He then drove to the nearby store, where he opened fire using an AR-15-style rifle inscribed with Nazi insignia, authorities said.
Police described a methodic rampage that lasted less than 11 minutes and killed Angela Michelle Carr, 52; Anolt Joseph Laguerre Jr., 19; and Jerrald De’Shaun Gallion, 29.
Jacksonville police on Sunday said law enforcement had been called about Palmeter previously in a domestic incident, and he also had been held during a mental health crisis. But those cases did not result in a criminal record, so there was no legal reason to stop him from acquiring the guns he purchased this year between April and July.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
In a timeline of Saturday’s events, Waters said Palmeter drove to Jacksonville in neighboring Duval County at about 11:39 a.m. and parked in a lot behind the library of the university, where he was observed getting dressed, and was seen wearing a black bulletproof vest and latex gloves.
Video surveillance footage shared by local police showed Palmeter — a heavyset man wearing a mask and vest — entering the store with a rifle and quickly taking aim.
The shooting came one day before the 63rd anniversary of one of the most heinous events in Jacksonville’s racial history, “Ax Handle Saturday,” when 200 Ku Klux Klan members attacked a group of Black people conducting a peaceful sit-in to protest Jim Crow laws in 1960.
At a Sunday church service several miles from the store, tearful mourners gathered, including Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deagan (D), and a pastor urged people to avoid letting sadness turn to rage.
President Biden released a statement Sunday afternoon condemning the attack, noting there was added symbolism in the killings “fueled by hate-filled animus” that took place on the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington.
The attack follows at least two other public shootings in recent days, including one at an Oklahoma high school football game that left a teen dead and another incident that saw at least seven injured when a shooter opened fire near a Boston parade.
The original article contains 1,394 words, the summary contains 232 words. Saved 83%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!