Ron DeSantis booed at vigil, blamed after racist shooter kills 3

Attendees of a vigil for the Black victims of a white supremacist shooting in Jacksonville, Florida booed Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Sunday as he tried speaking. DeSantis signed laws loosening gun laws and blocking anti-racist education from schools, leading at least one state legislator to blame him for the shooting.

On Saturday, a self-avowed 21-year-old white supremacist killed three Black patrons of a local Dollar General store before killing himself. The victims were 52-year-old Angela Carr, 19-year-old Anolt Laguerre, Jr., and 29-year-old Jerrald De’Shaun Gallion. The shooter had published racist manifestos online.

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The gunman wore a mask and tactical vest and carried a semi-automatic Glock pistol and an AR-15-style assault rifle with swastikas drawn upon it, Jacksonville Sheriff TK Waters said, according to CBS News. The gunman initially appeared at the historically Black college, Edward Waters University, before beginning his shooting elsewhere.

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DeSantis appeared at a Sunday vigil for the victims. As he rose to speak, some of the 200 estimated attendees applauded but others loudly booed, interrupting his comments about providing additional security funding for the university.

Stepping in, Jacksonville City Councilwoman Ju’Coby Pittman briefly told the audience to set aside their politics “It ain’t about parties today,” she said. “A bullet don’t know a party.”

“If the governor wanted to come here, and he bringing gifts to my community, y’all know I’m taking the gifts because we’ve been through enough already, and I don’t want to go through no more,” Pittman said before asking the audience to let DeSantis finish his comments.

DeSantis called the shooter a “major league scumbag” and the shooting “unacceptable.” He then said Florida wouldn’t let people be targeted for their race.

DeSantis has signed laws seeking to ban racially inclusive diversity training and anti-racist “critical race theory” from schools, businesses, and government. In April, he signed a law allowing Floridians to carry guns without a permit or training even though local police officers and anti-violence activists opposed it. In May, he signed a law making it more difficult to track firearm purchases.

Racial justice broadcaster Reecie Colbert commented via Twitter about DeSantis’ heckling. She wrote, “I need Black folks to stop being more worried about offending company than about speaking truth to power. To placate DeSantis in a moment like this after he has targeted Black folks with his zealous [white-colored circle emoji] supremacist agenda is gross. Let him hear every boo and jeer he deserves!”

I need Black folks to stop being more worried about offending *company* than about speaking truth to power. To placate DeSantis in a moment like this after he has targeted Black folks with his zealous ⚪️ supremacist agenda is gross. Let him hear every boo and jeer he deserves! https://t.co/6ttpRLNbYc

— Reecie @BlackWomenViews (@ReecieColbert) August 28, 2023

Eunic Epstein-Ortiz, executive Vice President for the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, wrote via Twitter, “Black leaders built a vigil today to honor the three Black lives lost in Jacksonville to gun violence yesterday. Gov DeSantis took advantage of THEIR space after banning Black history, banning diversity, and more.”

Epstein-Ortiz’s tweet also included a photo of Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon. In the photo, Nixon stands expressionless with her hands on her hips, wearing a t-shirt that says “Stand with Black women” as DeSantis speaks at the vigil.

On MSNBC, Nixon said of DeSantis, “This is a governor who has done nothing but fan these types of happenings throughout our state. At the end of the day, the governor has blood on his hands.” She said DeSantis has been using “dog whistles to get folks up and riled up in the way in which it just happened.”

“My blood is literally boiling. Myself and other representatives, particularly Black representatives, throughout the past few legislative sessions have repeatedly told him what his rhetoric was going to do and that is exactly what transpired on yesterday,” Nixon added. “This is absurd. It’s ridiculous. He is one of the causes to this. This is an agenda that he has been pushing since he gets gotten into office.”

Black leaders built a vigil today to honor the three Black lives lost in Jacksonville to gun violence yesterday.

Gov DeSantis took advantage of THEIR space after banning Black history, banning diversity, and more.

This powerful photo of Rep. @AngieNixon is all of us. pic.twitter.com/pey00qsYDN

— Eunic Epstein-Ortiz (@eunicortiz) August 27, 2023

Sheriff Waters said that the shooter’s ideology “is not representative of the values of this Jacksonville community that we all love so much,” adding, “We are not a community of hate. We stand united with the good and decent people of this city. We reject this inexcusable violence, and this agency will not rest until this investigation is complete and every available avenue of accountability have been exhausted.”

On Sunday, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland called the shooting “an act of racially-motivated violent extremism” and said it the shooting is being investigated as a hate crime, CBS News reported.