JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (SNN) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis released a video on Saturday condemning the racially-motivated shooting in Jacksonville that left three people dead.
Authorities say the shooter, a white man in his 20s, traveled from Clay County, where he lived, to Jacksonville, where he carried out the shooting. The governor noted that he had a chance to speak with Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters and offered his support to the city.
“The scumbag that did this was racially motivated,” DeSantis said in the video, “He was targeting people based on their race. That is totally unacceptable. This guy killed himself rather than face the music and accept responsibility for his actions. And so, he took the coward’s way out.”
Democratic leader in the Florida House, Fentrice Driskell, says this was “a hate crime in Florida.”
In a statement, Driskell says this took place “in a Florida that has become a hotbed of extremism. Our nation needs healing, as does our state. Black history is under attack. Unarmed Black mothers get shot by angry neighbors through their locked front doors. Children get taught that slavery had a personal benefit. This is not 1920s Florida. This is present-day Florida.”
She said she has faith that “we will collectively renew our efforts to defeat extremism and racism in every form, wherever it rears its ugly head.”
The FBI has opened a federal civil rights investigation into the shooting and will investigate it as a hate crime.