2023-08-27 04:56:30
A white man motivated by racial “hate” fatally shot three black men in Jacksonville, Florida, before committing suicide, authorities said.
The shooter, in his 20s, began shooting Saturday at a discount store armed with an AR-type rifle and a handgun, according to Sheriff TK Waters.
“Their target was a certain group of people, black people. That’s what she said he wanted to kill. And that is very clear,” Waters said, adding that the victims were two men and a woman.
The attacker had written manifestos displaying “the disgusting ideology of hate,” Waters explained at a news conference.
The federal police (FBI) will open an investigation into the attack as a hate crime, according to Sherri Onks, special agent for the FBI in the town of Jacksonville.
Saturday’s shooting is the latest in a wave of shooting attacks across the United States this weekend, following similar events in Boston, Chicago and Oklahoma.
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Just 10 days ago Florida experienced another armed attack: a nine-year-old boy kills another six-year-old with a shot to the head
The racial hate crime case is reminiscent of another armed attack that the State of Florida experienced just a week ago.
On that occasion, a nine-year-old boy killed another six-year-old in the same town in Jacksonville, northeast Florida, by accidentally shooting him in the head with a pistol.
The events occurred on Monday afternoon, August 16, according to JD Stronko, assistant chief of the Jacksonville sheriff’s office.
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“The initial investigation determined that two minors were inside the home in the care of an adult,” the agent said. “One of the minors took possession of a firearm and fired a single shot that hit the victim.”
There is no indication of criminal violence in this case, but deputies from the sheriff’s office are investigating how the gun got into the hands of the young homicide, Stronko said.
The officer could not specify the relationship between the two children involved, due to child protection regulations.
The victim was transported to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
There have been 240 unintentional shootings by children in the United States so far this year, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, an NGO that advocates for greater restriction on the use of firearms.
The group estimates that nearly one child a day picks up a loaded firearm and shoots himself or another person in the United States.
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