Jacksonville Sheriff Says Shooting Was Racially Motivated; Gunman Wanted To Kill Black People

A Jacksonville shooting at Dollar General on Saturday left three people dead and now authorities say the attack was racially motivated.

All three victims were black, two men and a woman, NBC News reported.

“This shooting was racially motivated and he hated Black people,” Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said at a news conference. He said the shooter, who is White and shot himself after the attack, left behind evidence that outlined his “disgusting ideology of hate” and his motive in the attack.

The shooting happened blocks away from Edward Waters University, a historically Black school where students living on campus were told to stay in their residence halls, CNN reported.

The shooter traveled from Clay County, where he lived with his parents, to Jacksonville, before carrying out the shooting, the sheriff said. Authorities confirmed the suspected shooter is dead. The circumstances surrounding the shooter’s death are unclear.

The FBI has opened a hate crime investigation into the shooting.