Palmeter used an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and a Glock handgun in the shooting,
Palmeter had legally purchased his guns even though he had been involuntarily committed for a mental health examination in 2017. Palmeter killed himself after killing the three victims.
Waters identified those shot in Saturday's attack at a
Palmeter, who lived with his parents in neighboring
Waters said the guns were purchased in April and in June, with the dealers following all the laws and procedures, including background checks. Because Palmeter was released after his mental health examination, that would have not shown up on his background checks.
“Therein lies the difficulty. When a person grabs a hold of a gun with hateful intentions, it is very difficult to stop that from happening,” the sheriff said.
On Saturday shortly before
“He had an opportunity to do violence at (Edward Waters) and did not. There were people in very close proximity,” the sheriff said.
Palmeter drove off and the security guard flagged down a
The sheriff said Palmeter, wearing his vest covered by a shirt, gloves and a mask, first stopped in front of Carr's vehicle and fired 11 shots with his rifle through her windshield, killing her.
He entered the store and turned to his right, shooting Laguerre, video shows. Numerous people fled through the back door, the sheriff said. He chased after them and fired, but missed. He went back inside the store and found Gallion entering the front door with his girlfriend. He fatally shot Gallion.
He then chased a woman through the store and fired, but missed.
About a minute later, Palmeter entered the store's office and texted his father, telling him to use a screwdriver to break into his room. There, his father found the writings, which Waters called “quite frankly, the diary of a madman.”
“He was just completely irrational," Waters said. "But with irrational thoughts, he knew what he was doing. He was 100% lucid.”
Eleven minutes after the shooting began, and as police entered the store, Palmeter killed himself.
“We must say clearly and forcefully that white supremacy has no place in America,” President
Republican Gov.
“It ain’t about parties today,” she said. "A bullet don’t know a party.”
DeSantis said that on Monday the state would be announcing financial support for security at
“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.”
Earlier Sunday, the pastor of a church near the site of the shooting told congregants to follow
The latest in a long history of American racist killings was at the forefront of services at
“Our hearts are broken,” the Rev.
Elected officials said racist attacks like Saturday's have been encouraged by political rhetoric targeting “wokeness” and policies from the Republican-led state government headed by DeSantis, including one taking aim at the teaching of Black history in
“We must be clear, it was not just racially motivated, it was racist violence that has been perpetuated by rhetoric and policies designed to attack Black people, period,” said state Rep.
“We cannot sit idly by as our history is being erased, as our lives are being devalued, as wokeness is being attacked,” Nixon said. “Because let’s be clear — that is red meat to a base of voters."
“Nobody is having honest, candid conversations about the presence of racism,” McKissick said.
Past shootings targeting Black Americans include one at a
The
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AP writers
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