A white gunman killed three Black people in what the sheriff called a hate-motivated shooting at a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Florida, on Saturday.

    Authorities identified the victims as Angela Michelle Carr, 52; Anolt Joseph “AJ” Laguerre Jr., 19; and Jarrald De’Shaun Gallion, 29.

    The shooter was identified as Ryan Palmeter, and the sheriff said he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

    Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters earlier described the gunman as a "maniac" who wanted to kill Black people. He left messages for his parents, the media and federal law enforcement officials detailing his racial hatred.

    A swastika was also drawn on his rifle in pen, the sheriff said.

    The FBI has opened a federal civil rights investigation and is investigating the shooting as a hate crime.

    HBCU turned away shooter before he opened fire at Dollar General

    Angela Yang

    Edward Waters University, a historically black campus in Jacksonville, said a campus security officer encountered the shooter near a library on campus yesterday before the shooting.

    He left without incident, the school said in a statement, after being turned away for refusing to identify himself.

    The university was placed on lockdown until around 4:30 p.m.

    Three victims identified

    Marissa Parra

    The sheriff's office identified the three people killed in Saturday's shooting as: Angela Michelle Carr, 52; Anolt Joseph “AJ” Laguerre Jr., 19; and Jarrald De’Shaun Gallion, 29.

    All three victims were Black.

    Prayer vigils set for Sunday night near Dollar General and at Edward Waters University

    Julianne McShane

    More prayer vigils are set to take place in Jacksonville tonight.

    One of the vigils, at 5:30 p.m., will take place next door to Dollar General, at 2161 Kings Road, according to a flier shared by a local official on X, the site formerly known as Twitter. Mayor Donna Deegan and Sheriff T.K. Waters are scheduled to attend.

    Another vigil will take place on the campus of nearby Edward Waters University — a historically Black college — at 7:30 p.m., the university said in a post on X.

    In a statement Saturday, university officials said the shooter showed up on campus earlier in the day, "refused to identify themselves and was asked to leave." The school was placed on a lockdown when the shooting later unfolded at Dollar General, according to the statement.

    Shooter identified as Ryan Palmeter

    Doha Madani

    Authorities identified the shooter as Ryan Christopher Palmeter, a 21-year-old from Orange Park, Florida. They also confirmed he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

    Waters previously said Palmeter had prior interactions with law enforcement, including involvement in a 2016 domestic disturbance call. No arrests were made at the time and Palmeter's involvement was not clear.

    Palmeter was subject to the Baker Act in 2017, a temporary detention for a mental health examination, the sheriff said Saturday. The details of the hold were not released.

    "There was no flag that could have come up that would have stopped him from purchasing those guns…. When a person grabs a hold of a gun with hateful intentions, its very difficult to stop that from happening," Sheriff T.K. Waters said.

    Calls to Palmeter's parents were not immediately returned to NBC News Sunday.

    'Feels some days like we're going backwards': Mayor Deegan speaks at prayer service

    Doha Madani

    At a prayer service for the shooting victims Sunday, Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan gave an emotional speech urging the community to come together for change.

    Deegan's said she takes responsibility for what happens in the city, but that she needed the community to stand together. She told those in attendance that it "feels some days like we’re going backwards."

    "When we look around us and we see what is happening because of our policies, because we don't see each other, because we don't believe symbols matter," Deegan said. "When we see all of this, we have to understand that common sense tells we have to do something different. Otherwise, it's just the same insanity over and over again."

    She noted that some people say the rhetoric doesn't represent what people feel, but she called it "the political game." Those who died in Saturday's shooting were "not a game," she said.

    Deegan stressed the importance of seeing each other's humanity .

    "But today more than anything else, I just want you to know I am here with you and I love you," Deegan said. "And I'm sorry that I wasn't able to do something to stop this. And I will do everything I can in my power to see that ...this does not happen again."