About 200 people gathered in Jacksonville Sunday afternoon to mourn the deaths of Angela Carr and Anolt Laguerre Jr. to commemorate. and Jerrald De’Shaun Gallion. The three people, aged 52, 19 and 29, were victims of a racist shooting in the city of Florida. A 21-year-old white supremacist, Ryan Christopher PalmerArmed with an assault rifle on which he had drawn a swastika, he committed the massacre near a shop. Jacksonville police reported hours later that the shooter, who had no criminal record, had legally acquired the gun.
When Florida Gov. and Republican primary candidate Ron DeSantis walked out with his wife, Casey DeSantisMany booed him. The governor, who was re-elected in November, has relaxed gun laws in the state and has run afoul of civil rights activists whom he accuses of spreading a “woke ideology”. It has also slowed efforts to teach black history in public schools.
The Republican was seen forced to step away from the microphone before a member of the city council invited the crowd to listen to what he had to say. When he finally spoke up and called the alleged killer “scum”, he earned some applause. But in the recordings that were made of his intervention, shouts like “You’re not welcome here” or “Your politics caused this”.
DeSantis continued. He said the state of Florida was “seeking funding” to beef up security at the historically black Edward Waters University near the shooting range where the gunman visited hours before the Dollar General Store attack. His main goal was the campus. However, the Republican’s words did not reassure the public. The Jacksonville City Councilwoman had to step in Ju’coby Pittmanwhich required participants to “put the parties aside” because “Bullets don’t understand parties”.
The shooting has once again shocked the United States. The perpetrator of the massacre, Ryan Christopher Palmer, carried an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and a Glock pistol. As soon as he saw the police arrive at the scene, he committed suicide. County sheriff TK Waters confirmed the crime was “racially motivated and he hated black people.” Palmer had left racist manuscripts that, in the sheriff’s words, sounded like “a madman’s diary.”
“What he did is totally unacceptable in the state of Florida. “We will not allow people to be targeted because of their race,” DeSantis said.
The governor wasn’t the only one who decided on the shooting. Other GOP primary candidates like Mike Pence and Tim ScottThey also regretted what had happened. Meanwhile the Attorney General Merrick garland announced that the Justice Department is investigating the murder as a hate crime. And in turn the President Joe Biden He said in a statement that “white supremacy has no place in the United States.”