Florida gunman thwarted at Black college before store shooting

Ryan Christopher Palmeter, 21, is shown in a still image from surveillance video holding a rifle at a Dollar Store after being identified by Sheriff T.K. Waters as the white man who killed three Black people before shooting himself August 26, 2023 in what local law enforcement described as a racially motivated crime in Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office/Handout via REUTERS

(Reuters) -A campus police officer chased a white gunman off Florida's first historically Black university a few minutes before the shooter killed three Black people at a discount store, the school's president said Monday, two days after the attack.

The gunman, Ryan Christopher Palmeter, 21, parked his car on the Edward Waters University campus in Jacksonville and was putting on gloves and a military-style vest when students spotted him. They summoned the officer, President A. Zachary Faison Jr. told reporters, providing new details about what occurred.