AP Photo/Jon Lawrence
The first 911 call came 11 minutes after Jacksonville shooting shooter Ryan Christopher Palmer was found in the parking lot of historically black educational institution Edward Waters University (EWU). said in a phone call with Jacksonville Sheriff TK Waters on Monday. Briefly brief national law enforcement agencies and local leaders. But before that, he went to the Family Dollar store, a mile away from what was believed to be his primary target, Dollar General, where he murdered three black people before committing suicide. “Suspect worked for Dollar Tree in the past,” Waters said during the call.
Palmer visited EWU, but Waters said the HBCU did not appear to be part of his attack plan. “I think we’re really getting to the point where we believe Edward Waters University wasn’t.” [a] The main target, we think he went there to get dressed, he had a really, really good opportunity — I hate to say it, but I’m going to be very blunt now — but to him had the opportunity to kill two people who were parked right next to him, but he didn’t take the opportunity,” the sheriff said. However, Special Agent Sherry Oncks, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Jacksonville office, said in a call Monday that “we are trying to determine if it was ever targeted.”
“While he was parked in that parking lot, an EWU security vehicle got into his car, but he didn’t get out, just backed up and sat in the same parking lot. “He sat there for about three hours,” Waters said. “After a few minutes, he drove out of the parking lot.” “As he was exiting the parking lot, I saw one of the guards get out of the car, but then he got back in his car and started slowly following him. They just slowly started chasing after him.”
Giving a specific timeline, Waters added, “At 12:48:33, when he arrived at the EWU behind the library and put on his bulletproof vest.” During this time, a TikTok video was sent of the subject changing clothes at the EWU. At 12:55:10, EWU guards returned to the parking lot in the same parking lot as the subject. At 12:47:49 Subject exited EWU heading south on Pierce Street and west on King’s Road. I think it’s very important to remember that access and abilities at this point could have done a lot of damage, but he didn’t take the opportunity. ”
During the call, Mr. Waters described the events leading up to, during, and after the shooting, second by second. In 2017, the sheriff said, “He underwent a 72-hour evaluation, but he was not admitted to a psychiatric hospital.” In a conference call, he said the 2017 test result did not rule out a psychiatric hospital admission, and because he was 15 at the time, he believed the shooter was legally able to purchase firearms in April and June of this year. He added that there are.
According to law enforcement reports, Palmer was subject to the Baker Act on July 6, 2017, after he left his home on a bicycle, refused to return home, and left a suicide note in his bedroom. His mother found him unharmed and took him home before police found him. Palmer then reportedly said in conversations with Clay County officials that he couldn’t take the stress any longer and was planning to ride his bike to the Bank of America tower in downtown Jacksonville and jump off of it. He said it was.
“First of all, I would like to express my deepest condolences to the victims of this cowardly attack, their families, and the entire Jacksonville community,” FBI Director Chris Wray said in an afternoon meeting with partner agencies and local residents. He said in a phone call that he had provided an update on the incident. We conduct research and provide resources from across government.
“I can only imagine the terrible pain you and your neighbors are going through right now, and the sense of loss that will linger over the days, weeks and months to come.”
“We will not tolerate racially motivated violence in our country, so the FBI is committed to a thorough and aggressive investigation into Saturday’s attack,” he added. “The perpetrator of Saturday’s attack was revealed through his own writings, mentions and actions, revealing his intentions, actions, motives and hatred,” Ray said.
“I want to be clear with everything we know today that this was a targeted attack and a racially motivated hate crime,” Ray said. “Violent crimes like this have a direct impact on the heart of the community, but they understandably raise concern about other threats that may exist there, and the entire African-American community, And it causes anxiety and pain throughout our country.”
On Saturday, August 26, Palmer, a 21-year-old white man, shot and killed three people and then himself at a Dollar General store in Jacksonville. The three victims, all black, were identified by authorities as Angela Michelle Carr. 52; Anold Joseph “AJ” Laguerre Jr., 19; And Gerald Garrion (29).
“I’m broke. Even on my worst days she was my everything,” Kerr’s daughter Megan Griffin wrote on Facebook early Sunday morning. She later added: “This must be The Twilight Zone. There’s no way he could have just walked in and killed my mom head-on. This is really hard.”
Garion’s girlfriend Hervesha Deroche, who was with him at the time of the shooting, shared some of the experience in a post, saying, “I had to avoid someone shooting me, but Dee got shot. I saw it,” he said. She later added: “God, thank you so much. [You] I was able to go home with my three children.but [why] Will you take Dee out of his hands? “
At a press conference later that evening, Waters said the shooting was “racially motivated” and accused Palmer, who is white, of writing several manifestos. One was addressed to his parents, the other to the press and federal employees.
“Some of these manifestos detailed the shooter’s loathsome hatred ideology,” Waters said. “Frankly, the shooting was racially motivated and he hated black people.”
Shortly after leaving his home in Orange Park, Fla., for Jacksonville on Saturday, Palmer reportedly texted his father telling him to check his computer. Palmer’s family then called authorities, but by then Palmer had already opened fire on Dollar General. Authorities said he was wearing a tactical vest and was armed with a pistol and a swastika-marked AR-15 rifle.
“The culprit was using multiple electronic devices containing large amounts of data,” Onks said in a conference call Monday. “So far, we have identified multiple posts demonstrating hatred of African Americans and belief in the inferiority of black people. There is also evidence that he had anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-Semitic complaints. ”
She said the weapons and body armor used in Saturday’s attack “had references to past mass shootings.”
Before heading to Dollar General, Palmer stopped at the nearby campus of Edwards Waters College, a historically black institution. But Mr. Palmer refused to reveal his identity, and he was turned away by security on campus.
In a phone call Monday, Kristen Clarke, the U.S. Attorney General for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice, said a civil rights investigation had been launched. “We know the shooter was on the HBCU campus at Edward Water University. doing.”
“I and my colleagues mourn the victims of this senseless attack on the black community,” Clark said. “As a parent of a black woman and as the Chief Civil Rights Officer of the Department of Justice, I mourn with you.”
A wake for the three victims was held in Jacksonville on Sunday, August 27, and was also attended by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Some of the crowd booed DeSantis, and one shouted, “Your policies caused this!” City Councilman Jucoby Pittman was forced to intervene and say: Bullets don’t know the parties. “
