A crowd booed Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Sunday while mourning the victims of Saturday’s racially motivated shooting in Jacksonville, footage shows.
The individuals booed DeSantis loudly as he attempted to address a crowd of approximately 200 people who had gathered at Sunday’s vigil to mourn the three black victims fatally shot by 21-year-old Ryan Palmeter at a Dollar General, CBS News reported. Palmeter left behind “white supremacist ramblings” that authorities equated to “the diary of a madman,” according to CBS.
Ju’Coby Pittman, a Jacksonville city councilwoman representing the area where the shooting occurred, intervened on DeSantis’ behalf, asking the crowd to listen to what the governor had to say.
“It ain’t about parties today. A bullet don’t know a party,” Pittman said, according to the outlet.
“Your policies caused this!” Ron DeSantis is booed so much at vigil for the Jacksonville shooting victims, he’s forced to stop talking. pic.twitter.com/833Vp4BIvX
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) August 28, 2023
Calling the shooter a “major-league scumbag,” DeSantis informed the crowd the shooter was not from Jacksonville, but rather from the more rural area of Clay County. “What he did is totally unacceptable in the State of Florida,” DeSantis told the crowd.
“We are not going to let people be targeted based on their race. We are going to stand up, and we are going to do what we need to do to make sure that evil does not triumph in the state of Florida,” DeSantis continued.
While some applauded the governor’s comments, others have suggested DeSantis’ policies surrounding critical race theory and gun legislation contributed to the shooting.
“We must be clear, it was not just racially motivated, it was racist violence that has been perpetuated by rhetoric and policies designed to attack Black people, period,” Democratic state Rep. Angie Nixon said, according to CBS. (RELATED: Misinformation Dominates Corporate Media Coverage Of DeSantis Education Order)
Palmeter took his own life after murdering Angela Michelle Carr, 52; Anolt Joseph “AJ” Laguerre Jr., 19; and Jarrald De’Shaun Gallion, 29, in what has been called a racially motivated attack at a Dollar General near Edward Waters University, a historically Black college, NBC News reported. Prior to the shooting, Palmeter allegedly stopped at the college before campus security confronted him and asked him to leave. (RELATED: 4 Dead, Including Suspect After Shooting At Jacksonville Dollar General)
Sheriff T.K. Waters confirmed Palmeter had been wearing a tactical vest and was armed with Palmetto PA-15 semi-automatic rifle and a Glock semi-automatic handgun at the time of the shooting, the outlet reported.
“This guy killed himself rather than face the music and accept responsibility for his actions,” DeSantis said in the aftermath of the shooting Saturday. “And so, he took the coward’s way out, but we condemn what happened in the strongest possible terms, we’ve offered support for Sheriff Waters and the city of Jacksonville, and we send our condolences to the victims and their families who were the victims of a very cowardly act.”