Multiple people were killed during a mass shooting in Jacksonville, Florida, on Saturday in what officials said was a racially motivated attack.
Shooter Ryan Palmeter, 21, opened fire at a Dollar General store on Saturday, killing three black people. The victims have been named as Angela Michelle Carr, 52; store employee A.J. Laguerre, 19; and Jerrald Gallion, 29. Palmeter killed himself as police arrived.
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Here's what to know about the shooting that took place this weekend.
What happened leading up to the Dollar General?
Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said this weekend that Palmeter left his home in Clay County around 11:39 a.m. and headed to Jacksonville, which is in Duval County. He stopped at Edward Waters University, a historically black college, to put on a bulletproof vest.
A student flagged down campus security, saying Palmeter "looked out of place," according to Dr. A. Zachary Faison Jr., the president and CEO of Edward Waters University.
“We don’t know obviously what his full intentions were, but we do know that he came here right before going to the Dollar General,” Faison told CNN. “Members of our university security team reacted almost immediately. I think the reports are in less than 30 seconds after he made contact and drove onto our campus.”
A security guard followed Palmeter until he left campus, Faison said. University police followed him out of the lot around 12:58 p.m. and flagged down a sheriff’s officer, saying there was a suspicious person on campus, Waters said.
Faison said the campus security actions probably saved “dozens of lives.”
“It’s not by happenstance, we believe, that he came to the first historically black university in this state first,” Faison said.
Shooter arrives at Dollar General
Palmeter arrived at the Dollar General sometime around 1 p.m.
At 1:08 p.m., Palmeter shot at a black Kia in the parking lot, killing Carr. He then entered the store and shot Laguerre, who was an employee of Dollar General.
The first 911 call came through at 1:09 p.m., moments before Gallion walked into the store. Palmeter fatally shot Gallion and chased after another person, whom he shot at but did not hit, Waters said.
Other customers and employees began fleeing the store out the back exit, Palmeter followed before coming back inside and shooting at security cameras.
Palmeter texted his father at 1:18 p.m., asking him to go into his room. Officers entered the store a minute later, 11 minutes from the start of the shooting, and heard one gunshot — Waters said that is when Palmeter shot and killed himself.
Waters said Palmeter's father found a will and a suicide note. Palmeter's family called the Clay County Sheriff's Office at 1:53 p.m.
Palmeter used legally purchased weapons, an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle with swastika emblems and a Glock handgun, despite having a past involuntary commitment for a mental health exam in 2017. However, because he was released following the examination, it would not have appeared on background checks, according to authorities.
Shooting aftermath
The sheriff said Palmeter left behind racist writings in which he expressed white supremacist views and used racial slurs. Waters said Palmeter "hated black people" and described his manifesto as the "diary of a madman."
The Justice Department has opened a federal hate crime investigation into the shooting, Attorney General Merrick Garland said on Sunday.
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has condemned the actions of Palmeter, calling him a "major league scumbag."
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“What he did is totally unacceptable in the state of Florida,” DeSantis said at a prayer vigil on Sunday. “We are not going to let people be targeted based on their race.”
DeSantis announced on Monday that the state would allocate $1 million in funding for security at Edward Waters University and $100,000 to help the victims' families.