The man who killed three individuals on Saturday at a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Florida, in what authorities characterized as a racially motivated attack against Black people, had previously been denied entry to a nearby historically Black university.
The assailant, identified as a young White man by the police, initially visited Edward Waters University. There, he declined to reveal his identity to a campus security officer and was instructed to depart, as stated in a press release from the university.
Afterwards, the individual returned to his vehicle and left the campus without any confrontation. The university’s security informed the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office about the incident.
While still on the university campus, the suspect donned a bulletproof vest and mask. Subsequently, he proceeded to the nearby Dollar General. Armed with both an AR-15 style rifle and a handgun, the gunman commenced firing outside the store and then inside, resulting in the fatal shooting of the three victims before he ultimately took his own life. The sheriff, T.K. Waters, confirmed that the three victims, a female and two males, were all of Black ethnicity.