By RUSS BYNUM and AARON MORRISON Associated Press
A 21-year-old white man fatally shot three Black people in Florida with guns he bought legally despite once being involuntarily committed for a mental health exam, the local sheriff said Sunday.
Ryan Palmeter shot one of his victims as she sat in her car outside a Jacksonville store; shot another just after Palmeter entered the store; and shot the third minutes later, Jacksonville's sheriff said.
Palmeter used an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and a Glock handgun in the shooting, Sheriff T.K. Waters said during a press conference.
Palmeter had legally purchased his guns in recent months even though he had been involuntarily committed for a mental health examination in 2017. Palmeter killed himself after killing the three victims.
Waters identified those shot in Saturday's attack at a Dollar General as Angela Michelle Carr, 52, who was shot in her car; store employee A.J. Laguerre, 19, who was shot as he tried to flee; and customer Jerrald Gallion, 29, who was shot as he entered the store, which is in a predominantly Black neighborhood.
Palmeter lived with his parents in neighboring Clay County and had texted his father during the shooting and told him to break into his room, Waters said. The father then found a suicide note, a will, and writings that Waters has described as racist.
Waters said the guns were purchased in April and in June, with the dealers following all the laws and procedures, including background checks. Because Palmeter was released after his mental health examination, that would have not shown up on his background checks.
On Saturday shortly before 1 p.m., Palmeter parked at Edward Waters University, an historically Black college less than a mile from the Dollar General. The sheriff said he posted a TikTok video of himself donning a bullet-resistant vest and gloves. It was about this time that a university security guard spotted Palmeter and parked near him.
Palmeter drove off and the security guard flagged down a Jacksonville sheriff's officer who was about to send out an alert to other officers when the shooting began at the store.
The sheriff said Palmeter, wearing his vest covered by a shirt, gloves and a mask, first stopped in front of Carr's vehicle and fired 11 shots with his rifle through her windshield, killing her.
He entered the store and turned to his right, shooting Laguerre, video shows. Numerous people fled through the back door, the sheriff said. He chased after them and fired, but missed. He went back inside the store and found Gallion entering the front door with his girlfriend. He fatally shot Gallion.
He then chased a woman through the store and fired, but missed.
About a minute later, Palmeter entered the store's office and texted his father, telling him to use a screwdriver to break into his room. There, his father found a suicide note and a will. On his computer, writings that the sheriff has described as racist were found addressed to his family, federal law enforcement and the media.
Eleven minutes after the shooting began, and as police entered the store, Palmeter killed himself.
"Our community is grappling to understand why this atrocity occurred," Sheriff Waters said. "I urge us not to look for sense in a senseless act of violence."
Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement on Sunday that the Justice Department was "investigating this attack as a hate crime and an act of racially motivated violent extremism."
"No person in this country should have to live in fear of hate-fueled violence and no family should have to grieve the loss of a loved one to bigotry and hate," he said.
