JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Less than 30 minutes before the deadly rampage at a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Florida on Saturday, several students at nearby Edward Waters University saw something that put them on high alert. A man was putting on gloves and an armored vest in a staff parking area behind the library building toward the rear of campus.
Under the notion of “see something, say something,” the students immediately flagged down Lt. Antonio Bailey, who was on patrol at the end of the lunch rush, officials at the historically black university said during a press conference Monday.
Bailey said he approached the man, who was seated in a gray Honda Element. As the officer got within 15 feet, the driver sped out of the parking lot, jumped the curb and struck a nearby brick column, according to officials.
“For you to see me approaching and for you to leave that fast, something’s not right,” Bailey said.
Credit: Edward Waters University
Credit: Edward Waters University
The intruder turned out to be 21-year-old Ryan Palmeter, who moments later would kill three Black people about a half mile away at the store, in an attack Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said was racially motivated. The victims in the shooting spree, which occurred in the span of 11 minutes, were identified as Angela Michelle Carr, 52; store employee Anolt Joseph “AJ” Laguerre Jr., 19; and Jarrald De’Shaun Gallion, 29, the father of a 4-year-old girl. Palmeter shot himself to death after the killings, authorities said.
Edward Waters President A. Zachary Faison Jr. said he believes the shooter, whose father found a will and racist writings, planned to carry out the racist attack at the campus before he was spotted. Both the campus and dollar store are within the predominantly Black neighborhood of New Town.
“We must still thank and recognize the extraordinary efforts of Lt. Bailey to thwart what we believe were the original aims of this white supremacist domestic terrorist,” Faison said. “That being to come to come to the state of Florida’s first historic black university and reek murderous havoc upon our students faculty and our staff.”
Bailey pursued the car in his public safety vehicle and flagged down a JSO officer leaving a police substation on campus. Despite being called a hero, he said the students who came to him should each have that title.
“This is a daily activity that we do to protect our students,” added Bailey, who had been on campus for less than two years and previously served in corrections in the state of Mississippi. “If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t be able to do my job.”
Faison said many of the university’s 1,000 students remain afraid and apprehensive after the shooting which happened during the second week of the semester and in the middle of registration. Faison, who noted conversations with a dozen HBCU presidents in the past 48 hours, has called on President Joe Biden to provide federal aid to further secure the safety of students and staff.
His plea came after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday announced a $1 million boost to Edwards Waters security. DeSantis said Florida Department of Law Enforcement personnel were on site evaluating security on campus and making recommendations for any additional infrastructure improvements.
“We are not going to allow our HBCUs to be targeted by these people,” he said.
DeSantis, who is running for president, also said that $100,000 will be donated to a charity that supports the families of Saturday’s shooting victims.
On Monday morning, a police vehicle and a truck carrying what appeared to be portable metal fencing were in the parking lot of the Dollar General store which was still roped off with caution tape nearly 48 hours after the shooting. Traffic on the four lanes of Kings Road was flowing again, as several news crews were now situated with a closer vantage point on the opposite side of the street. At the previously roped off gas station stood a man in silent prayer as he stared at the store.
Credit: David Aaro / David.Aaro@ajc.com
Credit: David Aaro / David.Aaro@ajc.com
In Atlanta, home to several HBCUs, the security team at Morehouse College has been on heightened alert following the shooting. President David A. Thomas said campus security is being extra vigilant about checking cars and identification of those entering the campus.
The shooting comes after a series of bomb threats against historically Black colleges and universities in 2022, including several directed at schools within the Atlanta University Center Consortium and elsewhere in Georgia. Though the threats were unfounded, they disrupted campus activities. Federal investigators previously said they determined a juvenile was responsible for making them.
In Florida, Faison said Edward Waters was targeted by a bomb threat last year. Thomas said there’s also been at least one active shooter warning for schools within the AUC, which includes Morehouse and Spelman colleges and Clark Atlanta University.
”Around the country we’ve had historically Black colleges threatened,” Thomas said. “I think we are in this period where African Americans are targets of hate, fueled by leaders in our country who are basically race-baiting.”
Such threats can have a paradoxical effect on students, both alarming and uniting them, he said.
”No 18-year-old goes to college thinking they could be a target of a random act of violence based upon their skin color,” he said.
It also pulls students together as they realize that they’re at a school like Morehouse “to make a difference in the world and that difference scares some people.”
In a statement, Spelman said leaders are concerned “about potential threats” and remain focused on safety. The school has taken numerous steps over the past year to improve security, including working with law enforcement agencies.
“In our evermore connected world,” Spelman said, “when these senseless acts of violence happen, we all feel the impact.”
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