CRIMEUNITED STATES OF AMERICA
US: Several killed in Jacksonville, Florida, mass shooting
2 hours ago2 hours ago
A gunman started shooting at cars passing by a Dollar General discount store, local media reported. Police said four were killed, including the gunman.
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Jacksonville police officers block the perimeter of the scene of a mass shooting, Saturday, Aug. 26, 2023, in Jacksonville, Fla.
The Florida shooting incident is the latest in a string this weekendImage: John Raoux/AP Photo/picture alliance
Several people were killed in a shooting incident around and inside a Dollar General discount store in Jacksonville, Florida, on Saturday, that the authorities described as racially motivated.
“One shooting is too much but these mass shootings are really hard to take,” Mayor Donna Deegan told local news channel WJXT.
What do we know about the shooting?
A gunman fired at cars passing by the store before barricading himself inside, local media reported. He then engaged in a standoff with police.
Sheriff T.K. Waters told reporters that three victims were involved in the incident, adding that they all died. Waters said the suspect is believed to have taken his own life.
“The people in this community, they’re hurting and they have every right to. You know, this makes no sense. I am very, very angry right now,” Jacksonville Council Member Ju’Coby Pittman told reporters at the scene.
Who is the suspect?
The shooter was armed with a high-powered rifle and handgun, Waters said at a news conference. He added that the shooting was racially motivated.
“Plainly put, this shooting was racially motivated and he hated Black people,” Waters said.
He described the suspect as a white male in his early 20s, without identifying him, adding that the three victims, two men and a woman, were all Black.
The shooter is believed to have acted alone, Waters said. He had authored “several manifestos” on his hatred for Black people.
The incident is the latest in a string of shooting events across the US this weekend.
rmt/sri (AFP, AP, Reuters)
