A white gunman sporting a tactical vest barged right into a Dollar General retailer in Jacksonville, Fla., on Saturday and fatally shot three Black folks in an assault that the authorities mentioned they have been investigating as a hate crime.

The gunman, who has not been publicly recognized and was described as being in his early 20s, died after taking pictures himself, Sheriff T.Ok. Waters of Jacksonville mentioned at a news convention on Saturday night.

“This shooting was racially motivated, and he hated Black people,” Sheriff Waters mentioned.

The rampage on Saturday was the most recent high-profile racially motivated assault carried out by a white gunman within the United States.

A taking pictures final 12 months that targeted Black people left 10 dead at a grocery store in Buffalo. And in 2019, an assault at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, killed 22. The gunman in that taking pictures instructed the police he wished to kill Mexicans.

In Jacksonville, the victims have been two males and a feminine, officers mentioned. No one else was shot or injured.

The authorities mentioned the gunman left his mother and father’ home in neighboring Clay County at round 11:39 a.m. on Saturday and headed towards Jacksonville. At 1:18 p.m., he texted his father to ask him to verify his laptop.

Sheriff Waters mentioned the gunman had written “several manifestoes,” together with one to his mother and father, through which he detailed his “disgusting ideology of hate.”

The Clay County Sheriff’s Office acquired a name from the gunman’s mother and father at 1:53 p.m. By that point, Sheriff Waters mentioned, the taking pictures had already begun in Jacksonville.

The authorities mentioned the gunman was armed with an AR-15-style rifle that bore swastika markings, in addition to a handgun.

He had been noticed on the campus of Edward Waters University, a traditionally Black faculty about half a mile from the Dollar General.

The college had ordered its college students to shelter in place amid reviews of the taking pictures. It was not clear what, if any, intentions the gunman may need had associated to the college.

“I can’t tell you what his mind-set was while he was there,” Sheriff Waters mentioned. “But he did go there and he did put his vest on and a mask on and then went directly to Dollar General.”

The sheriff added: “This is a dark day in Jacksonville’s history. Any loss of life is tragic, but the hate that motivated the shooter’s killing spree adds an additional layer of heartbreak.”

In Jacksonville, a metropolis of 971,000 where 30 percent of residents are Black, folks shaped prayer circles outdoors the scene, which was cordoned off by the police.

Donna Deegan, the mayor of Jacksonville, identified that the taking pictures got here on the five-year anniversary of a shooting at a gaming tournament in the city that left three dead, together with the gunman.

She mentioned the gunman on Saturday alluded to that 2018 taking pictures in his written statements.

“I can’t even begin to tell you how frustrating this is for all of us,” Ms. Deegan mentioned. “We’ve seen it too much.”

Local residents weighed in as particulars emerged.

“Hate motivated him to do this,” mentioned Warren Jones, a faculty board member and former councilman. “There’s a lot of hate speech going on.”

Laylana Bell, 43, referred to as the encompassing neighborhood a “close-knit community” full of longtime “mom and pop” companies and older houses and residences occupied by low-income residents.

“A lot of us went to school together,” Ms. Bell mentioned. “A lot of people went to EWC,” alluding to the college.

The Dollar General, she added, was a comparatively new addition.

The retailer chain mentioned in an announcement that it was “heartbroken by the senseless act of violence” and that it was working intently with regulation enforcement.

The police mentioned the gunman had been concerned in a “domestic call” in 2016 and that he underwent a psychological sickness examination by the authorities in 2017.

On Saturday night, Gov. Ron DeSantis launched a video assertion calling the taking pictures “horrific” and saying the gunman had focused victims based mostly on their race.

“That is totally unacceptable,” Mr. DeSantis mentioned.

He added: “This guy killed himself rather than face the music and accept responsibility for his actions. And so he took the coward’s way out.”

Mr. DeSantis’s workplace mentioned he would lower brief a marketing campaign journey to Iowa and return to Florida.

In an announcement, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, mentioned the company was “closely monitoring” the scenario surrounding the taking pictures.

“Too many Americans — in Jacksonville and across our country — have lost a loved one because of racially-motivated violence,” Mr. Mayorkas mentioned.

Chris Cameron, Nicholas Nehamas and Nichole Manna contributed reporting.