President Joe Biden issued a statement Sunday regarding the Jacksonville mass shooting that was “fueled by hate-filled animus.”
Authorities say the gunman engaged in a shooting around 2 p.m. at a Dollar General near the university’s campus situated in a predominantly black neighborhood in Jacksonville. Two men and one woman were killed as a result. The gunman also killed himself after reportedly using a Glock handgun and an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle, onto which he had painted a swastika at the store. He was also wearing a bullet-resistant vest.
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Jill and I are praying for the victims, their families, and the people of Jacksonville following yesterday’s shooting.
As we continue searching for answers, we must say clearly and forcefully that white supremacy has no place in America.
Here’s my full statement. pic.twitter.com/tdxxnZnPGk
— President Biden (@POTUS) August 27, 2023
“On Saturday, our nation marked the 60th Anniversary of the March on Washington — a seminal moment in our history and in our work towards equal opportunity for all Americans. But this day of remembrance and commemoration ended with yet another American community wounded by an act of gun violence, reportedly fueled by hate-filled animus and carried out with two firearms,” Biden’s statement read.
The president confirmed that the FBI has opened a federal civil rights investigation in regard to the incident and “is treating this incident as a possible hate crime and act of domestic violent extremism.” Biden offered his and his wife’s prayers to the victims and their families.
“Even as we continue searching for answers, we must say clearly and forcefully that white supremacy has no place in America,” Biden said. “We must refuse to live in a country where Black families going to the store or Black students going to school live in fear of being gunned down because of the color of their skin. Hate must have no safe harbor. Silence is complicity and we must not remain silent.”
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Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters would go on to claim the gunman “hated black people” at a news conference late Saturday. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) would call the gunman a “scumbag” who he claimed “took the coward’s way out.”
Police revealed Saturday that the shooter was 21-year-old Ryan Palmeter. He left a manifesto at his parent’s home, where he lived.
