Victims of racist mass shooting at Florida Dollar General identified

The three black people killed by a white gunman in what authorities have said was a racially-motivated hate crime at a Dollar General store in Florida, were identified Sunday — including a 19-year-old employee who was shot dead as he tried to escape.

Teenage store worker A.J. Laguerre was named as one of the victims gunned down by racist “maniac” Ryan Palmeter, 21, who targeted the Jacksonville shop Saturday afternoon, armed with a Glock pistol and an AR-15 style rifle bedecked with swastikas, authorities said.

Angela Michelle Carr, 52, was shot dead as she sat in her car in the parking lot outside the store, and Jerrald Gallion, 29, was murdered as he entered the shop, Sheriff TK Waters said. 

A fourth person was shot at but managed to escape alive, the sheriff said.

Palmeter — who turned the gun on himself before authorities arrived — acted alone in his racist rampage, authorities said.

“There is absolutely no evidence that the shooter is part of any larger group,” Waters told reporters.

“This was, quite frankly, a maniac who decided he wanted to take lives,” the sheriff said. “He targeted a certain group a people, and that’s black people, that’s what he said he wanted to kill. And that’s very clear.”

Palmeter left behind several racist manifestos on the computer at his parents house where he lived, authorities said.

“This shooting was racially motivated, and he hated black people,” Waters said. “He wanted to kill n——.”

The guns Palmeter used were purchased legally in recent months, despite him having been involuntarily institutionalized for mental health in 2017.

He was involved in a domestic call a year ago, but was not arrested.

Just before the shooting, Palmeter was spotted nearby at the historically black Edward Waters University, but left after security guards confronted him.

Witnesses said Palmeter was seen donning a mask and tactical vest before he left the school.

It is unclear whether he initially intended to stage the attack at the school, but Waters noted it was a possibility.

“Any member of that race at that time was in danger — of the black race,” Waters said.

Before the shooting began just before 2pm, Palmeter had texted his father telling him to check his computer for the racist manifestos.

The family notified the police, but by then Palmeter was already at the Dollar General.

FBI investigators are treating the shooting as a hate crime.