Apologies for the confusion. Here is the revised news body:
Three Black individuals were tragically killed in a Dollar General store in Florida in a hate crime carried out by a white shooter. The assailant, who was masked and armed with at least one weapon bearing a swastika, targeted the victims based on their race, according to officials. The incident occurred in a predominantly Black neighborhood and has been described as racially motivated by Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters.
Prior to the shooting, the attacker made racist statements and wore a bullet-resistant vest. He used a Glock handgun and an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, acting alone without evidence of being part of a larger group. The shooter took his own life at the scene.
The tragic event unfolded on the same day as the 60th anniversary commemoration of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his iconic I Have A Dream speech. Rudolph McKissick, a national board member of the National Action Network, reflected on the shooting, stating that it reveals the ongoing presence of racism and the failure to achieve racial equality.
The shooter sent written statements to federal law enforcement and media outlets shortly before the attack, indicating that it may have been intended to coincide with the fifth anniversary of a previous shooting in Jacksonville. The identity of the victims and the assailant have not yet been released.
The tragic incident occurred near Edward Waters University, a historically Black university. The university confirmed that a security officer encountered the shooter near the library but the attacker refused to provide identification and eventually left the premises. It remains unclear if the university was a target.
Authorities were alerted by the shooter’s father, who received a text message instructing him to check the attacker’s computer. However, the shooting had already commenced by the time the family contacted emergency services. Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan expressed her heartbreak and emphasized that there is no place for hate in the community.
The shooting draws attention to the ongoing racial tensions in Florida and nationwide. The Rev. McKissick attributed the divide to the disenfranchisement of Black people and criticized Governor Ron DeSantis for contributing to the division through his policies. Governor DeSantis strongly denounced the shooter’s racist motives, referring to him as a scumbag.
The incident in Jacksonville is a stark reminder of previous targeted attacks on Black Americans, such as the Buffalo shooting in 2022 and the Charleston church shooting in 2015. The Buffalo shooting, which resulted in the deaths of 10 people, remains one of the deadliest attacks on Black individuals by a lone white gunman in U.S. history.
The tragic event in Jacksonville occurred just one day before the anniversary of Axe Handle Saturday, a dark chapter in the city’s history when the Ku Klux Klan attacked Black protesters. The police initially stood by while Black individuals were arrested until a Black street gang intervened to confront the Klansmen.
The shooting has deeply affected those who were attending the March on Washington commemoration. Marsha Dean Phelts, a Jacksonville native, expressed her increased awareness of Florida’s historical racial tensions and the ongoing struggle for equality. LaTonya Thomas, another Jacksonville resident, viewed the shooting as a targeted act in a predominantly Black area.
While the shooting highlights the persistent issue of gun violence and racial tensions in the United States, it also serves as a reminder of the need for unity, love, and understanding. The community must come together to ensure that incidents like this do not continue to occur, and that dreams of racial equality and harmony become a reality.
