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re: US MASS Killings: Shootings in Texas/Washington & Today Las Vegas Set Grim Record
Jacksonville Shooting: 3 Dead as Masked White Supremacist Storms Dollar General Shop
An evil gunman has slaughtered multiple people at a Dollar General store in Jacksonville - Mayor Donna Deegan has called it a 'mass shooting'
BBC 27 AUG 2023
Three Black people were killed in a horror mass shooting at a store as a masked white supremacist gunman barricaded himself inside during a stand-off with police. The gunman, aged in his 20s who has not been identified, was armed with a handgun and an AR-15 assault rifle daubed with swastikas.
The shooting at a Dollar General store has struck fear into the heart of the city of Jacksonville, Florida, and comes after the gunman was seen at a university campus putting on a ballistics vest before fleeing from security and choosing a new target. It has been confirmed he wore a tactical vest, mask, and gloves during the shooting.
Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters reported that three people have been shot dead, as well as the shooter who turned his weapon on himself.
Parents of the suspect are understood to have contacted police after discovering a shocking racist manifesto in connection with the shooting. Manifestos were also sent to the media and federal agents.
The killer turned his gun on himself after barricading himself inside the shop
Mayor Donna Deegan earlier confirmed there were multiple people killed in what she called a "mass shooting". The mayor has herself rushed to the scene. She told local media there were a number of fatalities and confirmed a man was barricaded in a Dollar General store. She said: “This is unacceptable. One shooting is too much but these mass shootings are really hard to take.”
After barricading himself inside and getting into a standoff with the police, the racist gunman killed himself.
A press conference later revealed that his intentions were, in fact, racially motivated. Sheriff Waters said the suspect "hated Black people" and wanted to kill them. FBI Special Agent in Charge Sherri E. Onks added that the federal agency filed a hate crime report with the Department of Justice and are investigating the shooting as such.
Police confirmed the killer "hated Black people" and left a racist manifesto before the bloodshed
"This is a dark day in Jacksonville’s history," Waters said. "Any loss of life is tragic, but the hate that motivated the shooter’s killing spree adds an additional layer of heartbreak."
A witness told News4Jax that he was seconds away from walking into the store before realising they didn't have any cash on him, so luckily decided to go to anothet store. He said he hear heard gunshots ring out moments later, and claimed the gunman was firing at cars. He turned around to see a woman running and a man fall back.
Mayor Deegan was seen talking to District 13 State Representative Angie Nixon at the scene. Mrs Nixon said the situation was “tragic” and she was trying to calm local people down.
She told News4JAX: "These are things that we want to try to avoid by making sure that our communities are fully resourced, making sure we’re creating a climate of love and not tension.”
Penny Jones said in a phone interview that she worked at the store, located a few blocks away from her home, until a few months ago. "I'm just waiting to hear about my co-workers that I used to work with," Jones said. "I don't know if it's safe to move about the neighborhood." Jones added that she was "feeling awkward, scared."
"I don't want to leave my house. I'm thinking, do I want to go back to the store? Is this going to start happening more frequently? I don't know what the cause of it is. I'm confused. It's a lot of different feelings going on right now," she said.
The shooter had been seen at a local university campus putting on a ballistics vest but fled from security, the local outlet reports, before he carried out the shooting down the road. A man was said to have gone behind the library on campus and put the ballistic vest on but fled from security shortly before the Dollar General shooting.
The suspect was in a stand-off with SWAT teams and witnesses reported seeing the gunman walking into the store. There was a major police presence in the area, with a police helicopter flying overhead and searching the area.
The horror situation started around 1pm local time and police and fire crews have blocked the roads. The public are being urged to stay away from the area.
Local reports emerging on Twitter claim the suspect tried to enter Edward Waters University first before being turned around by security.
No Edward Waters University students or faculty are believed to be involved with students being kept in dorms. A campus alert has been sent out to all staff and students.
The Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office were at the scene near Kings Road and Canal Street.
Sheriff T.K. Waters told a press conference the killer was inspired by racial hated
Brady, an activist organisation that fights gun violence, released as statement from its president, Kris Brown: “As we’ve seen time and time again, hate combined with easy access to firearms is an incredibly deadly combination. Only in America are Black people gunned down with a swastika-adorned assault weapon. People who want to commit racist terror should never be allowed to access a firearm."
"Sadly, today’s tragedy is not unique as each year, over 10,000 are victims of hate crimes involving a firearm," the organisation continued. "Additionally, Florida's incredibly weak gun safety laws, including its recent permitless concealed carry law, are increasingly put Americans at risk of mass shootings like this. Our hearts go out to the families and survivors of this horrific tragedy.”
Florida governor Ron DeSantis released a statement of his own, saying that the shooting was "a very cowardly act" and that his administration supports the victims and their families and "condemn what happened in the strongest possible terms."
The Leadership Conference, an activist group focused on Civil Rights, released a statement as well that called the shooting "yet another heinous act fueled by hatred" and noted the fact that it had occurred just two days before the 60th anniversary of the historic March on Washington, which featured Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech.
The attack on a shopping center in a predominately Black neighborhood will undoubtedly evoke fears of past shootings targeting Black Americans, like the one at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket in 2022, and one at a historic African Methodist Episcopal church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015.
The Buffalo supermarket shooting, in particular, stands apart as one of the deadliest targeted attacks on Black people by a white lone gunman in U.S. history. Ten people were killed by the gunman, who has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The shooting happened one day before the 63rd anniversary of one of Jacksonville's most notorious racist incidents, "Ax Handle Saturday." A group of Black protesters were conducting a peaceful sit-in at a city park to protest the Jim Crow laws that kept them out of white-owned stores and restaurants.
That's when they were attacked by 200 members of the Ku Klux Klan, who hit them with bats and ax handles as police stood by.
Only when members of a Black street gang arrived to fight the Klansmen did the police intercede. Only Black people were arrested.
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