3 killed in ‘racially motivated’ shooting at Dollar General in Jacksonville, Florida

Three people were killed in a “racially motivated” shooting at a Dollar General in Jacksonville, Florida, on Saturday, authorities said.

All three victims were Black, and the suspect detailed a “disgusting ideology of hate” in writings, according to Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters.

“Plainly put, this shooting was racially motivated and he hated Black people,” Waters said of the suspect.

The gunman was armed with an AR-15-style rifle and a handgun and outfitted in a tactical vest when he shot three people — two men and a woman — before turning the gun on himself, according to Waters. No other injuries were reported in the shooting.

“This is a dark day in Jacksonville’s history,” Waters said. “As a member of this Jacksonville community, I am sickened by this cowardly shooter’s personal ideology of hate.”

The suspect has not been officially identified at this time, Waters said, who described him as a white man in his early 20s. He acted alone and there is no evidence he was part of any group, the sheriff said.

The sheriff shared photos of the guns used in the shooting, one of which appeared to have swastikas on it.

“This type of hate… we must do everything that we can to dissuade this type of hate,” Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan told reporters. “I can’t even be able to tell you how frustrating this is for all of us because we’ve seen it too much.”

The suspect is believed to have lived in Clay County with his parents and texted his father before the shooting, the sheriff said.

“At 1:18 p.m. he texted his father and told his father to check his computer,” Waters said. “At 1:53 p.m. the shooter’s family members called the Clay County Sheriff’s Office. By that time, he had already began shooting in Jacksonville.”

Deegan noted the shooting comes exactly five years after a mass shooting that occurred at a video game tournament in Jacksonville, in which a gunman shot and killed two people and injured nearly a dozen others before killing himself. The suspect in the Dollar General shooting reportedly referenced that incident in his writings, the mayor said.

“This was a hate-filled crime. And we just shouldn’t have that kind of hate in Jacksonville,” Deegan said.

The incident prompted a heavy police presence on the city’s westside.

Edward Waters University issued a public safety alert alerting students to the shooting, which occurred near its campus. Students are being kept in their residence halls until the scene is cleared, the alert said.

“This is a tragic moment. My heart is heavy,” Jacksonville Councilwoman Ju’Coby Pittman told ABC Jacksonville affiliate WJXX. “The people in this community, they’re hurting — and they have every right to. This makes no sense. I am very, very angry right now.”

“It’s unjust that we can’t even walk on the sidewalk because we’re not safe in any stores,” she continued.

The FBI Jacksonville field office is assisting, according to an FBI Jacksonville spokesperson. The incident is being investigated by the FBI as a hate crime, an official said.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called the shooting a “very cowardly act.”

“This shooting based on the manifesto that they discovered from the scumbag that did this was racially motivated,” he said in a video statement. “He was targeting people based on their race. That is totally unacceptable.”

The Anti-Defamation League condemned the attack, which occurred as the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington, a prominent moment in the Civil Rights Movement, was being marked in Washington, D.C.

“That this attack occurred while tens of thousands gathered in our nation’s capital for the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington, serves as a painful reminder of how much work needs to be done to realize Dr. King’s Dream,” the ADL said in a statement.

ABC News’ Matt Foster, Bernie Lubell and Will McDuffie contributed to this report.