Authorities Identify Victims Killed in Racially Motivated Shooting at Florida Dollar General Store

Authorities have released the names of the three Black people tragically killed by a white gunman in what they say was a racially motivated attack at a Dollar General store in Florida.

Among the victims was 19-year-old AJ Laguerre, an employee, who was fatally shot as he tried to escape.

Ryan Palmeter, 21, was described by authorities as a racist “maniac” who targeted the Jacksonville shop around 1 p.m. Saturday. He entered the store armed with a Glock pistol and an AR-15-style rifle bedecked with swastikas, authorities added.

Angela Michelle Carr, 52, was also fatally shot dead in a hail of 11 bullets as she sat in her car in the parking lot outside the store, and Jerrald Gallion, 29, was killed as he entered the shop alongside his girlfriend, Sheriff TK Waters said.

Numerous other people in the store managed to get away unharmed by going out a back door while Palmeter chased and shot after them, the New York Post reported.

Waters said the shooter allowed some people to leave the store at one point – some of whom were white – however, authorities are still investigating that part of the shooting.

Palmeter turned the gun on himself soon after authorities arrived on the scene. Authorities say he acted alone.

“There is absolutely no evidence that the shooter is part of any larger group,” Waters told reporters.

Palmeter left behind a suicide note and several racist manifestos on a computer at his parents’ house in Clay County, where he lived, authorities said.

“The manifesto is, quite frankly, the diary of a madman,” said Waters. “He was just completely irrational. But with irrational thoughts, he knew what he was doing. He was 100% lucid.”

“This shooting was racially motivated, and he hated black people,” Waters said. “He wanted to kill n——.”

The guns he used were purchased legally earlier this year, despite him having been involuntarily institutionalized for mental health in 2017. He was released after an examination.

Just before the shooting, Palmeter was spotted nearby at the historically black Edward Waters University but left when security guards confronted him.

Witnesses said Palmeter was seen putting on a mask, a tactical vest, and gloves before he left the school, and police said he posted a TikTok video while he was in the parking lot showing him putting on tactical gear.