Manifesto becomes public in Dollar General hate crime attack in Jacksonville
Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters today released what he termed "the diary of a madman" after the Aug. 26 hate crime slaughter at a Jacksonville Dollar General store.
After reading the 27-page diatribe, most would likely agree with that assessment of Ryan Christopher Palmeter and his manifesto.
The white 21-year-old from Oakleaf in Clay County expressly penned his hatred for the Black race and more, leaving behind copies of his manifesto for his parents, the media and federal agents after killing three Black victims and himself.
The Times-Union is not publishing the manifesto to spread his message (it is posted on the Sheriff's Office website in its "Trending Topics" section), but he makes it eminently clear his intentions and hatred toward Black people. Palmeter references the "N" word 183 times and also expresses his disdain for the LGBTQ community.
Here is the sheriff's statement:
“Today, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office publicly releases the manifesto of the murderer who senselessly took the lives of three members of our community last summer. On the day that this tragedy occurred, I promised the public that our agency would release this manifesto when doing so would not compromise the integrity of the investigation. Now that this investigation is complete, the manifesto’s release poses no potential investigative hindrance. Transparency is at the heart of this administration’s core values. By releasing this manifesto, we remain consistent with our commitment to transparency. Members of the public deserve to determine, firsthand, that this manifesto is filled with the rantings of an isolated, hateful, madman, whose disgusting ideology is wholly inconsistent with the belief structure of the Jacksonville community. As our city heals from this tragedy, let us continue to stand united.”
Palmeter, who had previously worked at a Dollar Tree store in the Oakleaf area, first stopped at a Kings Road Family Dollar and historically Black Edward Waters University but left when security guards arrived. He had put on a tactical vest and then headed to the Dollar General also on Kings Road armed with an AR-style rifle with swastikas drawn on it and a handgun.
He killed Angela Michelle Carr, 52, Anolt “A.J.” Laguerre Jr., 19, and Jerrald Gallion, 29, without warning and then shot himself, the Sheriff's Office previously said.
At some point Palmeter had texted his father to check his computer.
His father called 911 but had no idea the extent of what had already happened. The dispatcher asked if he had ever done anything like this, and he responded that at 15 he threatened to kill himself. He left a suicide note stating, “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. He said he was getting psychiatric care and looked like he stopped taking his medication.
His father also said, "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."
The 27 pages of ramblings do not appear to include any specific instance or event that may have happened to Palmeter to make him want to orchestrate such an attack, nor does he mention Dollar General or EWU. But he compares several races and delves into an overall theme of white superiority. He describes his actions as a call to arms and also references several other mass killers such as Adolf Hitler and more recently Timothy McVeigh.
John Phillips, an attorney for one of the victim's families, issued a statement cautioning "to not give Palmeter the satisfaction of publishing or distributing his manifesto. It’s written to give his racist views attention, but also exposes the hate which exists which we all must fight. It is disgusting and utterly offensive and contains not one redeemable thought."
The Dollar General reopened last week at 2161 Kings Road.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Racist manifesto released in Jacksonville Dollar General shooting
