Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) received boos from attendees at a prayer vigil for the victims of the recent Jacksonville shooting, which authorities said was a racially motivated attack.
DeSantis traveled to a prayer vigil on Sunday to give his condolences to the victims and their families. While delivering remarks, the crowd began to boo and jeer at the Florida governor loudly, according to the Associated Press and multiple videos captured by the crowd.
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Jacksonville City Councilwoman Ju’Coby Pittman, who spoke before DeSantis took the stage, asked the crowd to quiet down and listen to the governor.
“It ain’t about parties today,” she told the audience. “A bullet don’t know a party.”
DeSantis told the crowd the state would announce funding on Monday for security at Edward Waters University, a historically black college near the shooting, and to help the victims’ families. He called the gunman a “major league scumbag.”
“What he did is totally unacceptable in the state of Florida,” DeSantis said. “We are not going to let people be targeted based on their race.”
The prayer vigil occurred a block from the Jacksonville Dollar General, which is located in a predominantly black neighborhood. Officials said shooting suspect Ryan Palmeter, 21, opened fire on Saturday. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said Palmeter used legally purchased guns, an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle and a Glock handgun, despite having a past involuntary commitment for a mental health exam in 2017.
Since he was released following the examination, it would not have appeared on Palmeter’s background checks, officials said. Authorities also said Palmeter left behind a manifesto filled with white supremacist writings, with Sheriff T.K. Waters saying he “hated black people” and described his writings as the “diary of a madman.”
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Waters identified the victims 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 Jerrald Gallion, 29, who was shot as he entered the store. Palmeter killed himself as police arrived.
The Washington Examiner reached out to DeSantis for comment.
