08/28/2023
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA —
In a Dollar General store located in a predominantly Black neighborhood of Jacksonville, Florida, a white gunman tragically killed three individuals on Saturday. The local sheriff, Sheriff T.K. Waters, referred to the attack as "racially motivated." The assailant subsequently took his own life.
Sheriff Waters stated during a press conference, "He harbored strong animosity towards Black people. There is no concrete indication that the shooter was affiliated with any larger organized group."
The shooter, who was in his twenties, employed a G***k handgun and an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle. It was noted that at least one of the fi****ms had a sw****ka painted on it. The shooter left behind written materials that led investigators to deduce that the shooting was connected to the fifth anniversary of another incident in Jacksonville, where a different gunman opened fire during a video game tournament, resulting in the deaths of two individuals before the assailant took his own life.
The tragic event unfolded just before 2 p.m. at a Dollar General store close to Edward Waters University, a historically Black university.
Having driven from the adjacent Clay County, the shooter had sent a text message to his father shortly before the attack, urging him to check his computer. The contents of the writings found by the father prompted the family to contact 911. However, by that point, the shooting had already commenced, as per Sheriff Waters' account.
Edward Waters University issued a statement indicating that students were being confined to their dormitories. The statement clarified that neither students nor faculty were believed to be involved in the incident.
Penny Jones, a former employee of the store who resides a few blocks away in the predominantly Black neighborhood, shared her concerns. "I'm anxiously awaiting updates about my former colleagues," she conveyed. She admitted to feeling uncertain about her safety in the neighborhood.
Jones further expressed, "I'm experiencing a mix of emotions—apprehension and fear. Venturing outside my home feels unsettling. I'm contemplating whether I should return to the store. The frequency of such incidents troubles me. I'm grappling with confusion and a range of emotions at this moment," she shared on Saturday afternoon.
This tragic shooting occurred shortly after the conclusion of a commemorative March on Washington in the capital city, where organizers raised awareness about the escalating menace of hate-driven violence against individuals of color.
The attack on a shopping center in a predominantly Black neighborhood inevitably stirs recollections of past shootings that targeted Black Americans. Examples include the 2022 shooting at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket and the 2015 attack at a historic African Methodist Episcopal church in Charleston, South Carolina.
The Buffalo supermarket shooting remains one of the deadliest instances of targeted violence against Black individuals by a lone white gunman in U.S. history. The perpetrator, who received a life sentence without the possibility of parole, claimed the lives of ten people.
