Evil mass shooter shown on CCTV beginning racist murder spree at store

27 August 2023 , 19:02

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CCTV footage shows the Jacksonville shooter Ryan Palmeter on CCTV beginning his racist murder spree on Saturday.

Ryan Palmeter, a 21-year-old Oakleaf resident, is believed to have fatally shot three Black people using a gun painted with a swastika, before turning the gun on himself. He had also penned a disgusting racist manifesto describing his hatred of Black people. Police have now revealed her murdered a 52 year-old woman outside the Dollar General store, and a 19-year-old man and a 29-year-old man in the store.

Footage taken by a witness shows him enter the store armed with an AR-15 assault rifle wearing a bulletproof vest. The gunman is opened fire outside the store and then again inside, fatally shooting the three victims after telling anyone who was white to leave the store, before killing himself, police believe.

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Sheriff T K Waters said two men and a woman were killed by the gunman, who wore body armour (Jackson Sheriff's Office)

The three victims killed, two males and one female, were all Black. They were identified as Angela Michelle Carr, 52, who was shot in her car; store employee AJ Laguerre, 19, who was shot as he tried to flee; and customer Gerrald Gallion, 29, who was shot as he entered the store.

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The Justice Department is investigating the shooting as a hate crime and act of racially motivated violent extremism, Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement Sunday.

The masked gunman "hated Black people" and left behind a racist manifesto, police have revealed. The suspect used racial slurs and left behind writings to his parents, the media and federal agents outlining his “disgusting ideology of hate,” the sheriff told reporters.

Palmeter aims hus rifle at a woman outside before going in the store (Jackson Sheriff's Office)

Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said: “This shooting was racially motivated, and he hated Black people. This is a dark day in Jacksonville’s history. Any loss of life is tragic, but the hate that motivated the shooter’s killing spree adds an additional layer of heartbreak.” The shooter did not appear to know the victims and it is believed he acted alone, he added.

Mr Waters said Palmeter had been briefly detained for 72 hours in 2017 under the Baker Act, mental health legislation that allows the involuntary detainment of an individual for treatment.

The gunman was identified as 21-year-old Ryan Christopher Palmeter. (@JSOPIO/Twitter)

But the sheriff said his weapons had been acquired legally, telling reporters the problem was not with the availability of guns, but with the killer being "a bad guy". He urged people not to "look for sense in a senseless act of violence".

The shooting reportedly occurred sometime around 1.30pm at the Dollar General on Kings Road, Waters said. The suspect had texted his father at 1.18pm to "check his computer,". The father then found a suicide note, a will and writings that police described as racist. His father immediately called the police.

Jacksonville police played CCTV video at the news conference showing the moment Palmeter walked up to the car where he killed the first woman with his gun (@JSOPIO/Twitter)

But the shooting had already begun, and in a matter of minutes, the three innocent victims at the store were already dead. The shooter then barricaded himself inside the store and got into a standoff with the police, which ended in him shooting himself dead.

The shooter first made his way to the store from the nearby Edward Waters University campus, where witnesses reported that they had seen him strapping on a ballistics vest, then fleeing from campus security. He had allegedly been aiming to shoot students and professors at the historically Black university instead of the Dollar General but got spooked by the security personnel.

This video on Twitter has been verified by police, showing the moment security found him at the University:

Ryan Palmeter, 21, has been identified locally as the gunman behind the racist massacre

By the time the suspect had reached the Dollar General, he was wearing full gear — the vest, a mask and gloves. A SWAT team was called out, and within minutes, a massive police presence was at the scene, including a police helicopter flying overhead to search the area for any additional suspects.

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Sherri E. Onks, the Special Agent in Charge (SAC) for the local FBI field office, said the federal agency is opening up a civil rights investigation, filing the event as a hate crime with the Department of Justice. She emphasised that investigating hate crimes is a top priority for the FBI and every federal agency and that her office would be doing its due diligence to look at every angle of the shooting.

The guns found at the scene (AFP via Getty Images)

District 13 State Representative Angie Nixon said: "The racist coward literally went to a Historically Black University to kill Black students. Got stopped. Then redirected his hatred, racism and violence to a local store where he told all the non-Black people to get out and then proceeded to kill Black People."

Lucy Williamson

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