Ron DeSantis Booed at Vigil for Jacksonville Shooting Victims: ‘You’re Not Welcome Here’

Floridians booed Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) on Sunday as he attended a vigil for three victims of what has been deemed a racially motivated attack that occurred at a Dollar General store in Jacksonville on Saturday.

The shooter carried out the racially motivated attack in a predominately black neighborhood. According to reports, the shooter, who murdered three people before committing suicide, reportedly left behind a manifesto.

Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said the shooter “hated black people” but said there was “absolutely no evidence the shooter is part of any larger group.”

“He hated blacks, and I think he hated just about everyone that wasn’t white,” Waters said. “He made that very clear.”

According to reports, the shooter first stopped at Edward Waters University, but a student flagged him for looking suspicious, prompting a security officer to confront him. The shooter then left the campus and unleashed carnage elsewhere.

Residents gather for a prayer near the scene of a mass shooting at a Dollar General store on August 26, 2023, in Jacksonville, Florida. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

“We don’t know obviously what his full intentions were, but we do know that he came here right before going to the Dollar General,” Edward Waters University President and CEO Dr. A. Zachary Faison Jr. said. “Members of our university security team reacted almost immediately. I think the reports are in less than 30 seconds after he made contact and drove onto our campus.”

All three victims of the shooting were black, and DeSantis strongly condemned the crime.

“The shooting, based on the manifesto that they discovered from the scumbag who did this, was racially motivated. He was targeting people based on their race. That is totally unacceptable,” DeSantis said, adding more on social media.

However, DeSantis attended a vigil for the victims on Sunday and was greeted with hostility from some, as his introduction was overshadowed by overwhelming boos.

“You’re not welcome here,” one individual said.

The boos continued as he tried to speak to the crowd, before one individual screamed, “Your policies caused this!”

“Councilwoman, I gotcha, don’t worry about it. We’ve already been looking to identify funds to be able to help one, security at Edward Waters College. We are not going to allow these institutions to be targeted by people,” DeSantis said through the boos.

“It ain’t about parties today. A bullet don’t know a party,” Councilwoman Ju’Coby Pittman later told the crowd.

“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,” she added.

DeSantis has come under criticism for months over his state weeding out Critical Race Theory (CRT) in schools. More recently, the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) has come under fire for its newly approved black history program, which says that slaves gained skills “which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.” The department has defended the state’s newly approved black history program, asserting it is “based on truth” and “builds on our continued efforts since 2019 to teach our students unbiased African American history.”