911 call from Dollar General shooter's father too late; killing had already begun

In a painful call to the Clay County Sheriff's Office, the father of Dollar General shooter Ryan Christopher Palmeter politely answers questions to help the dispatcher — both having no idea the extent of what had already happened.

His 20-year-old son had texted his father at 1:18 p.m. Saturday to go into his room where he lived with his parents in the Oakleaf community and check his computer. Palmeter had left behind manifestos describing his intentions and ideologies of hate for the Black race.

Shortly after his text, Palmeter's took his own life in Jacksonville. He had already massacred three Black victims at the 2161 Kings Road Dollar General store with no warning, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.

The Times-Union is not naming his parents to give them their privacy but also left them messages if they wished to comment. The audio — provided by the Clay County Sheriff's Office as part of an open records request — also is heavily redacted but contains some private information. So the Times-Union also isn't making it available unless it can be further edited.

Palmeter's father, 62, is very cooperative and tries to keep his composure.

"He left in his car a couple of hours ago," he says, describing the Honda Element and providing the tag.

“I’m sorry, I’m a little upset,” he tells the dispatcher.

He's asked if his son has ever done anything like this before and responds: “When he was 15, he left a note, a suicide note, and got on his bike and was headed downtown to jump off a building.”

The letter he left his parents indicated “he was stressed out and was not able to live any longer with the pain and thoughts that he was currently having,” according to the incident report from 2017 when Palmeter was 15.

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It included an apology to his parents as well as some final wishes and funeral arrangements. His plan was to ride his bicycle downtown to climb the Bank of America tower and jump off, the report said. His mother located him on 103rd Street in Jacksonville, and he was transported to the Mental Health Resource Center under the state’s Baker Act.

The dispatcher then asks if he goes anywhere they know of in particular.

“No, he doesn’t go anywhere," his father replies. "He flunked out of Flagler College, moved home about a couple of years ago. Had a job for a while at Home Depot and lost that job and pretty much has been living in his room."

"We do know he’s been receiving psychiatric help, and he’s on meds too," he says.

"Looks like he stopped taking them," he tells him after a follow-up question."

He then spells out the names of the medications for him.

There are several minutes of redacted silence after Palmeter's father says, "Let me read this to you." It's unclear if that was a letter or the manifesto, but the call continues with the dispatcher advising deputies are on the way.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: 911 call released in Dollar General hate crime shooting in Jacksonville