Security guard says students’ warnings led officers to pursue gunman before the racist shooting at an off-campus Jacksonville store

CNN

By Elizabeth Wolfe, Raja Razek and Joe Sutton, CNN

(CNN) — Less than an hour before killing three Black people during what authorities say was a racist rampage through a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Florida, on Saturday, the White assailant parked at a nearby historically Black university, where students saw him donning tactical gear and alerted campus security, a security officer told CNN.

The students’ warning led security officers at Edward Waters University – nestled in the city’s predominantly Black New Town area – to approach the soon-to-be gunman, Ryan Christopher Palmeter, who drove away from the parking lot at the sight of the approaching officer, university security officer Lt. Antonio Bailey said on “CNN Primetime” Monday.

“We knew that he was not supposed to be on the university campus,” Bailey said. Students reported seeing the man putting on a tactical vest, gloves, a mask and a hat, he said.

University security pursued Palmeter until he drove off campus, Bailey said. They then flagged down a Jacksonville Sheriff’s officer to report the suspicious person, Sheriff T.K. Waters has said.

Despite the 21-year-old gunman’s alarming stop on campus, there is no direct evidence he intended to target the university, Waters said Monday.

Instead, investigators believe Palmeter – who had previously worked at a Dollar Tree store – planned to carry out his attack on a dollar store, he said.

About 10 minutes after leaving the university, the gunman – armed with a swastika-emblazoned assault-style rifle – opened fire in a nearby Dollar General parking lot and throughout the store before fatally shooting himself, according to authorities.

The shooter killed Angela Michelle Carr, 52; Anolt Joseph “AJ” Laguerre Jr., 19; and Jerrald Gallion, 29, according to authorities.

The violence took place during the same weekend as the 63rd anniversary of Ax Handle Saturday – when more than 200 White rioters in Jacksonville chased and beat Black residents with baseball bats and ax handles, according to the Zinn Education Project. It also elicited painful memories of shootings targeting Black people as they go about their daily lives, including at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, last year and a historically Black church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015.

The shooter left behind writings to his parents, the media and federal agents outlining his “disgusting ideology of hate,” the sheriff said Saturday.

Investigators in Jacksonville believe the gunman originally intended to attack a different dollar store – a Family Dollar he visited just minutes before driving to the university, Waters told CNN’s Abby Phillip Monday night.

Waters believes the sight of a security vehicle arriving at the store and parking outside deterred the shooter.

“I don’t think he wanted to have any confrontation with someone that would create an issue for him or stop him from doing what he wanted to do,” Waters said.

“He had a goal in mind,” the sheriff said. “I think he wanted those stores – one of those stores. I don’t know why.”

The Justice Department is investigating the attack as a hate crime and an act of racially motivated violent extremism, US Attorney General Merrick Garland said Sunday.

Investigators provide timeline of the shooter’s actions

It took less than an hour for the gunman to travel from the Family Dollar, where investigators believed he initially planned to carry his attack, to a parking lot at nearby Edward Waters University and then to the Dollar General where he launched into a deadly shooting rampage, according to a timeline laid out by the sheriff since the attack.

The shooter, who lived with his parents in the town of Orange Park in Clay County left his home around 11:39 a.m. Saturday and drove to Jacksonville in neighboring Duval County, according to Waters.

At around 12:23 p.m., surveillance footage shows he pulled into the Family Dollar, where he went inside to buy a few items and then returned to his vehicle at 12:29 p.m., the sheriff said.

About a minute later, a security vehicle pulled into the lot and parked in front of the store. The shooter waited for a few minutes and drove away at 12:39 p.m.

He stopped at Edward Waters University at 12:48 p.m. and began putting on a bulletproof vest, Waters said.

Surveillance footage shows two young African American men getting into the car next to the suspect’s as he was sitting in the lot, the sheriff noted. That bolsters Waters’ belief that the gunman didn’t intend to carry out an attack at the university, he said.

“He had the opportunity to do so, and he did not,” Waters told CNN on Monday.

The shooter immediately started to drive away after being approached by a security officer, and he was followed until he left campus, Edward Waters University President and CEO Dr. A. Zachary Faison Jr. said.

He left the lot around 12:58 p.m., according to the sheriff. Campus security then flagged down a sheriff’s officer, to report the suspicious activity, he said.

Within minutes the gunman pulled into the Dollar General parking lot. At 1:08 p.m., he shot into a black Kia in the lot, killing Carr, the sheriff said. He then entered the store and fatally shot Laguerre, the sheriff said.

The gunfire sent people fleeing out of the store’s rear exit, followed by the shooter seconds later, the sheriff said. He then came back inside and shot at security cameras.

The first 911 call was at 1:09 p.m., seconds before the third victim, Gallion, walked into the store with his girlfriend. The gunman then fatally shot Gallion and chased after another person, whom he shot at but didn’t hit, the sheriff said.

At 1:18 p.m., the gunman texted his father and told him to go into his room, where the father found a will and a suicide note, the sheriff said.

Officers entered the store a minute later – 11 minutes from the start of the shooting – and heard one gunshot, which is presumed to be when the gunman shot and killed himself, the sheriff said.

The shooter’s family called the Clay County Sheriff’s Office at 1:53 p.m., the sheriff said.

Authorities on Sunday played two short video clips of the shooting.

One clip shows the shooter, wearing a tactical vest and blue latex gloves, pointing his weapon at a black Kia car outside the store, and the other shows the shooter walking into the store and pointing his rifle to his right.

“I wanted the people to be able to see exactly what happened in this situation and just how sickening it is,” Waters said.

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CNN’s Nouran Salahieh, Sara Smart, Holly Yan, Joe Sutton