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Grief and Anger Continue to Reverberate From Jacksonville Shootings

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Grief and Anger Continue to Reverberate From Jacksonville Shootings

Two days after a gunman killed three Black people at a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Fla., in a racially motivated attack, and as grief and anger reverberated through the community, new details about the gunman’s writings and the timeline of events continued to emerge.

On Saturday, the gunman, identified by the authorities as Ryan Christopher Palmeter, 21, from neighboring Clay County, used an AR-15-style rifle that bore swastika markings to kill two shoppers and an employee before killing himself.

At the time of the shooting, his family found a last will and testament and a suicide note in his bedroom as part of more than 20 pages of racist writings, Sheriff T.K. Waters of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said over the weekend.

On Monday, ABC News, citing a transcript of an F.B.I. conference call it had obtained, reported that Sherri E. Onks, special agent in charge of the F.B.I.’s field office in Jacksonville, told state and local law enforcement that the bureau had identified several documents that included “racist writings and rants that depict a hatred toward African Americans, as well as other groups.”

“One of the primary themes throughout the writings is a belief in the inferiority of Black people,” Ms. Onks said, according to ABC News. “And there’s also evidence that he harbored anti-LGBTQ+ and antisemitic grievances.”

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In a news conference on Monday afternoon, Sheriff Waters said that the gunman’s writings indicated that he was acting alone and seemed to indicate a broader focus for his rage.

“He didn’t like government, he didn’t like left or right,” Sheriff Waters said. “He didn’t like anything.”

It was previously reported that Mr. Palmeter was held for involuntary psychiatric evaluation in 2017, when he was 15, and that a year earlier the police received a domestic violence call involving him and his brother. On Monday, those police reports were released.

The documents from 2017 reveal that he had left his family home one day and refused to return. The document says that he left a note indicating that he had left the residence to commit suicide.

He was eventually located by his mother and brought back home. Upon arrival, a police officer spoke to Mr. Palmeter, who said that he had planned “to climb the Bank of America tower and jump off of it.”

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Based on these statements, the officer took Mr. Palmeter into custody and held him for a 72-hour psychiatric evaluation.

At the news conference on Monday, Sheriff Waters gave more details about Mr. Palmeter’s actions on Saturday before the shooting, with new surveillance footage showing him entering a Family Dollar store before he stopped at Edward Waters University, a historically Black university, and before the deadly shooting that occurred just after 1 p.m. at the Dollar General.

“It looks like he wanted to take action at the Family Dollar,” Sheriff Waters said. “And he did not because I think he got impatient, got tired of waiting.”

The local authorities confirmed that Mr. Palmeter had worked at a Dollar Tree store in the Oak Leaf area, in Clay County, from October 2021 to July 2022. The sheriff said that it was unclear why he had targeted the Dollar General store.

Earlier on Monday, schools officials at Edward Waters University said that they believed that the gunman had most likely aimed to carry out the attack there as he parked his car on the campus and donned body armor, gloves and a mask while in the parking lot.

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“He could have gone any place in the city, but he came to Florida’s first H.B.C.U. first, and so I think you know, circumstantially, we can conclude that this is where he aimed to complete his horrid act,” the university’s president, Dr. A. Zachary Faison Jr., said.

Sheriff Waters said on Monday afternoon that he did not believe that the university was a target.

In the fallout of the shooting, Mr. Faison Jr. said that students on campus were “having a really hard time,” adding that they were afraid and that there was a lot of apprehension.

“This has rocked our community,” he added.

Part of the aftermath has been outrage directed at Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican who has been at odds with the Black community in Florida for months and who has come under fire for rejecting the curriculum of an Advanced Placement class on African American studies and for rewriting African American history courses.

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Mr. DeSantis announced on Monday that he would award $1 million through the Volunteer Florida Foundation to Edward Waters University to “bolster campus security,” as well as $100,000 to the families of the three victims.

In response, State Representative Angie Nixon, a Democrat who represents Jacksonville, urged the governor to “reckon with the damage he has caused, to apologize for the harm he has inflicted and to actively work towards undoing the racist system he’s helped uphold and grow.” The governor was widely condemned at a protest march on Monday night.

The protest came a day after Mr. DeSantis was heckled and booed at a prayer vigil for the three victims.

As the authorities continue to piece together the timeline of events, the local community is reckoning with what led up to the deaths of the three victims, who were identified as Angela Michelle Carr, 52; Anolt Joseph Laguerre Jr., known as A.J., 19; and Jerrald De’Shaun Gallion, 29.

On Monday, Bishop John Guns of St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church in Jacksonville, where Mr. Gallion was part of the congregation, said in an interview that Mr. Gallion had been committed to doing the right thing.

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He said Mr. Gallion had been a dedicated father who was “finding his way into church, he was doing the best he could, and he’s taken away because someone decided that Black lives don’t matter,” Mr. Guns said. “For someone to kill a stranger because of how they look outwardly, that is the epitome of evil.”

In the community there is anger, Mr. Guns said, but also exhaustion.

“I pastor on the north side of Jacksonville, so it’s a community that has at times seemingly been left out and ignored or treated inadequately,” he said. “I’ve seen it all. I’ve seen a lot. I’ve witnessed a lot of death.”

“We’re burying our future,” he added.

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Video: President Biden Addresses Campus Protests

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Video: President Biden Addresses Campus Protests

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President Biden Addresses Campus Protests

President Biden defended the right of demonstrators to protest peacefully, but condemned the “chaos” that has prevailed at many colleges nationwide.

Violent protest is not protected. Peaceful protest is. It’s against the law when violence occurs. Destroying property is not a peaceful protest. It’s against the law. Vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, shutting down campuses, forcing the cancellation of classes and graduations — none of this is a peaceful protest. Threatening people, intimidating people, instilling fear in people is not peaceful protest. It’s against the law. Dissent is essential to democracy, but dissent must never lead to disorder or to denying the rights of others, so students can finish the semester and their college education. There’s the right to protest, but not the right to cause chaos. People have the right to get an education, the right to get a degree, the right to walk across the campus safely without fear of being attacked. But let’s be clear about this as well. There should be no place on any campus — no place in America — for antisemitism or threats of violence against Jewish students. There is no place for hate speech or violence of any kind, whether it’s antisemitism, Islamophobia or discrimination against Arab Americans or Palestinian Americans. It’s simply wrong. There’s no place for racism in America.

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Where Protesters on U.S. Campuses Have Been Arrested or Detained

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Where Protesters on U.S. Campuses Have Been Arrested or Detained

Police officers and university administrators have clashed with pro-Palestinian protesters on a growing number of college campuses in recent weeks, arresting students, removing encampments and threatening academic consequences. More than 2,000 people have been arrested or detained on campuses across the country.

Campus protests where arrests and detainments have taken place since April 18

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The fresh wave of student activism against the war in Gaza was sparked by the arrests of at least 108 protesters at Columbia University on April 18, after administrators appeared before Congress and promised a crackdown. Since then, tensions between protesters, universities and the police have risen, prompting law enforcement to take action in some of America’s largest cities.

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Arizona State University

Tempe, Ariz.

72

Cal Poly Humboldt

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Arcata, Calif.

60

Case Western Reserve University

Cleveland, Ohio

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20

City College of New York

New York, N.Y.

173

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Columbia University

New York, N.Y.

217

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Dartmouth College

Hanover, N.H.

90

Emerson College

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Boston, Mass.

118

Emory University

Atlanta, Ga.

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28

Florida State University

Tallahassee, Fla.

5

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Fordham University

New York, N.Y.

15

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Indiana University – Bloomington

Bloomington, Ind.

56

New York University

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New York, N.Y.

24

North Carolina State Univesity

Raleigh, N.C.

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1

Northeastern University

Boston, Mass.

98

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Northern Arizona University

Flagstaff, Ariz.

24

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Ohio State University

Columbus, Ohio

38

Portland State University

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Portland, Ore.

12

Princeton University

Princeton, N.J.

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14

Stony Brook University

Stony Brook, N.Y.

29

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Tulane University

New Orleans, La.

26

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University at Buffalo

Buffalo, N.Y.

University of Arizona

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Tucson, Ariz.

University of California, Los Angeles

Los Angeles, Calif.

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200

University of Colorado

Denver, Colo.

40

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University of Connecticut

Storrs, Conn.

25

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University of Florida

Gainesville, Fla.

9

University of Georgia

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Athens, Ga.

16

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Champaign, Ill.

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1

University of Mary Washington

Fredericksburg, Va.

12

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University of Minnesota

Minneapolis, Minn.

9

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University of New Hampshire

Durham, N.H.

12

University of New Mexico

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Albuquerque, N.M.

16

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill, N.C.

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36

University of South Carolina

Columbia, S.C.

2

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University of South Florida

Tampa, Fla.

13

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University of Southern California

Los Angeles, Calif.

93

University of Texas at Austin

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Austin, Texas

136

University of Texas at Dallas

Dallas, Texas

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17

University of Utah

Salt Lake City, Utah

19

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University of Wisconsin-Madison

Madison, Wis.

34

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Virginia Commonwealth University

Richmond, Va.

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Virginia Tech

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Blacksburg, Va.

82

Washington University in St. Louis

St. Louis, Mo.

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100

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Video: Johnson Condemns Pro-Palestinian Protests at Columbia University

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Video: Johnson Condemns Pro-Palestinian Protests at Columbia University

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Johnson Condemns Pro-Palestinian Protests at Columbia University

House Speaker Mike Johnson delivered brief remarks at Columbia University on Wednesday, demanding White House action and invoking the possibility of bringing in the National Guard to quell the pro-Palestinian protests. Students interrupted his speech with jeers.

“A growing number of students have chanted in support of terrorists. They have chased down Jewish students. They have mocked them and reviled them. They have shouted racial epithets. They have screamed at those who bear the Star of David.” [Crowd chanting] “We can’t hear you.” [clapping] We can’t hear you.” “Enjoy your free speech. My message to the students inside the encampment is get — go back to class and stop the nonsense. My intention is to call President Biden after we leave here and share with him what we have seen with our own two eyes and demand that he take action. There is executive authority that would be appropriate. If this is not contained quickly, and if these threats and intimidation are not stopped, there is an appropriate time for the National Guard. We have to bring order to these campuses. We cannot allow this to happen around the country.”

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