The young man who opened fire and killed three African-Americans yesterday Saturday in a store in Jacksonville, Floridabefore killing himself, was motivated by racial “hate,” the local sheriff announced today.

“He was targeting a specific group and that is African-Americans,” Sheriff T.K. pointed out during a press conference. Waters, estimating that the motive of the attacker is “absolutely clear”.

The manifestos left behind by the attacker, who was white in his 20s, described in detail “the vile ideology of hate”, according to him. Also, swastikas were drawn into the grip of at least one of his guns, the sheriff explained.

The gunman was wearing a bulletproof vest and armed with an assault rifle as well as a handgun when he opened fire inside a Dollar General store.

As stated by Waters, two men and one woman died in the attack. “We know he acted completely alone,” he assured.

At the same time, Agent Sherry Onks stated that the incident will also be investigated by the FBI as it is a hate crime.

The incident occurred near Edward Waters University, which is home to many African-Americans.

A member of university security spotted a man near the university library and “asked him to leave,” the university said in a statement. This man later turned out to be the perpetrator of the massacre at the store, who left the university premises without incident.

The governor of Florida Ron DeSandisa candidate for the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election, spoke of a “horrific” crime and called the attacker “scum”, stressing that he chose his victims “based on their race”.

“It is completely unacceptable,” he stressed. “This guy killed himself instead of (…) taking responsibility for his actions and therefore chose the path of cowardice,” the governor added.

The US is paying a heavy price for the proliferation of firearms and the ease with which Americans have access to them. The country has more guns than residents: one in three adults owns at least one firearm, and nearly one in two lives in a household with at least one gun.

Several incidents of mass shootings occurred at the end of the week on USA.

Last Saturday at least seven people were injured by bullets during a festival in Boston, according to the police.

The day before, two women were wounded by bullets in Chicago while watching a baseball game.

And on Friday night, an altercation on the sidelines of an Oklahoma high school football game ended in gunfire, killing a 16-year-old girl and injuring four others, local police said.