Florida gunman thwarted at Black college before store shooting
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[August 29, 2023]
By Julia Harte
(Reuters) -A campus police officer chased a white gunman off Florida's
first historically Black university a few minutes before the shooter
killed three Black people at a discount store, the school's president
said Monday, two days after the attack.
The gunman, Ryan Christopher Palmeter, 21, parked his car on the Edward
Waters University campus in Jacksonville and was putting on gloves and a
military-style vest when students spotted him. They summoned the
officer, President A. Zachary Faison Jr. told reporters, providing new
details about what occurred.
Palmeter then sped off, pursued by the officer, and headed to a Dollar
General store in Jacksonville. About 10 minutes later he carried out
what authorities have said was a shooting motivated by racial hatred.
After the attack and as sheriff's deputies closed in on him, Palmeter
shot and killed himself. He left behind several manifestos for media,
his parents and law enforcement detailing his hatred for Black people,
according to authorities, who said they may release the writings at a
future date.
Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters on Monday said he believed a discount
store - and not the university - was the gunman's intended target though
investigators did not yet know why he chose the specific Dollar General
store where he opened fire.
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Waters said Palmeter had worked at a Dollar Tree store and surveillance
footage showed him entering a nearby Family Dollar store before he
arrived at the university.
Additionally, the sheriff said, university surveillance footage showed
two young Black men getting into a car parked next to Palmeter's as he
sat in it, but he did not attack them.
Federal and state officials condemned the shooting on Monday.
"We can't let hate prevail. It's on the rise," President Joe Biden said
at the White House before civil rights leaders including the family of
Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., gathered for the 60th anniversary of
the March on Washington.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis pledged $1 million to increase security at
Edward Waters University and said an additional $100,000 would be
donated to a charity supporting the families of the shooter's victims.
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![](../images/082923PIX/news_o97.jpg)
Mourners attend a prayer vigil a day
after a white man armed with a high-powered rifle and a handgun
killed three Black people at a Dollar General store before shooting
himself, in Jacksonville, Florida, U.S., August 27, 2023. REUTERS/Malcom
Jackson
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Aug/29/images/ads/current/graue_lda_ENCLAVE4031preowned_081423.jpg)
DeSantis said money for extra security would come from the Volunteer
Florida Foundation, a non-profit organization that receives state
and federal funding.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement personnel on Monday evaluated
security on campus and made recommendations for safety improvements,
according to DeSantis.
Some Black leaders have denounced DeSantis, a Republican
presidential candidate, for what they say is his government's attack
on Black history.
Florida in January banned an Advanced Placement course on
African-American history for high school students. The state in July
directed kindergarten through high school history teachers to
include lessons on how enslaved Black people "developed skills
which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal
benefit."
The governor on Sunday was booed at a prayer vigil for the shooting
victims, where he told the crowd the gunman was "a major-league
scumbag."
Jeffrey Rumlin, a pastor at the Dayspring Church in Jacksonville who
spoke after DeSantis, disagreed. "At the end of the day,
respectfully, governor, he was not a scumbag," Rumlin said. "He was
a racist."
In an interview on Monday, Rumlin said prior statements by DeSantis
and other government officials that "spew hate and divisiveness" had
contributed to racist violence.
Rumlin said the swift law enforcement response to the shooter's
presence on campus showed that security at the university was not
lacking.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Aug/29/images/ads/current/heritagepackaging_sda_FAIR_2023.png)
"The solution is not increasing security," he said. "The primary
solution is to change our rhetoric."
(Reporting by Julia Harte in New York; Additional reporting by Brad
Brooks in Longmont, Colorado; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, David
Gregorio, Cynthia Osterman and Gerry Doyle)
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