Photos shown at a news conference of the swastika-covered rifle and pistol of the gunman who killed three black people in Jacksonville, Florida on August 26, 2023. ABC NEWS AFFILIATE WJXX/VIA Portal
Motivated by racial “hate,” a gunman opened fire at a store in Jacksonville, Florida on Saturday, August 26, killing three black people before committing suicide.
“He targeted a specific group and they were black people,” Sheriff TK Waters told a news conference, saying the racial motive was “very clear.” Manifestos left by the shooter, who was in his 20s and white, describe his “repulsive ideology of hatred,” according to Mr Waters.
The shooter, wearing a tactical vest and armed with an assault rifle and a handgun, shot into a Dollar General store, the sheriff said, explaining that two men and a woman lost their lives. Agent Sherri Onks said the FBI will investigate the matter as a hate crime.
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The United States has more individual weapons than people, largely because Americans have easy access to them. One in three adults owns at least one gun and almost one in two adults lives in a household where there is a gun.
The result of this proliferation is a very high rate of firearm deaths in the United States, unparalleled by other developed countries.
Several more shootings broke out over the weekend, mostly in Chicago and Boston, with no fatalities.