Photos of Jacksonville Shooter's Guns Show Writing, Markings on Murder Weapon
The guns used in Saturday’s Dollar General shooting in Jacksonville, Florida, had swastikas and other writing upon them.
On Saturday afternoon, a gunman that police have yet to identify entered the store and killed three people. The gunman later killed himself.
Sheriff T.K. Waters said a Glock and an AR-15-style rifle were used in the shooting, according to CBS.
WARNING: The following image may be disturbing to some readers
Hate crime. Swastikas on gun. Good grief.
#Jacksonville pic.twitter.com/HUmIuHIVMG— Stuff Things (@_Stuff_Things_) August 26, 2023
The gunman “acted completely alone” and was not believed to be part of “any large group,” Waters said.
Prior to the shooting, the gunman sent manifestos to his family, law enforcement and the media. His family reached out to police, but by that time the Jacksonville shooting was already under way, Waters said.
The gunman’s writings “detailed” his “disgusting ideology of hate,” Waters said, adding that the manifestos showed the shooting was “racially-motivated, and he hated black people.”
The shooter’s record includes a 2016 domestic incident that did not result in an arrest.
In 2017, the gunman was committed to an institution under the state’s Baker Act, Waters said.
The law allows police or medical professionals to forcibly institutionalize someone for 72 hours on the grounds they pose a danger to themselves or others.
Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan said the gunman’s writings show he was aware of a shooting five years before the date of Saturday’s incident that left two dead, and said he may have chosen the date deliberately, according to CNN
Waters said the manifestos will be released.
“I’m a big believer in transparency,” he said.
What happened in Jacksonville is tragic.
What’s also tragic is that people have a knee-jerk reaction to make it about politics instead of the actual root causes.https://t.co/3ceNaIbFEQ
— Jeff Charles, An Awful Pundit🏴 (@jeffcharlesjr) August 27, 2023
Prior to the shooting, the gunman had been on the campus of nearby Edward Waters University, a historically black college.
“He took that opportunity to put his bulletproof vest on outside and to put his mask on outside and then proceed to the store where he committed this horrible act,” Waters said.
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