White shooter kills 3 African Americans in Florida

A white gunman fatally shot three Black people in hate-motivated shooting at a Dollar General retailer in Jacksonville, Florida, on Saturday afternoon.

The killing was the latest act of American gun violence motivated by racist ideology, a national scourge that federal officials have described as one of the most lethal forms of modern domestic terrorism.

The fatal shooting, carried out by a white man in his early 20s who authorities say "hated Black people," follows deadly hate-motivated shootings at public gathering places, including a synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018, a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, in 2019, and a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, in 2022.

The spasms of gun violence are part of a wider history of racist terror in the United States dating back to the country's founding and stretching across more than two centuries. In the modern era, violent domestic extremists are often radicalized online, according to the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security.

Two years ago, a comprehensive review conducted by President Joe Biden's national security team found that "racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists," specifically those who "promote the superiority of the white race," represented one of the most "persistent and lethal threats" facing the homeland.

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