The gunman who killed three people Saturday at a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Florida, had earlier been turned away from the campus of Edward Waters University, an HBCU just blocks away from the site of the shooting authorities said was a targeted attack against Black people.
The shooter, described by police as a White man in his early 20s, first went to the campus where he refused to identify himself to an on-campus security officer and was asked to leave, the university stated in a news release.
“The individual returned to their car and left campus without incident. The encounter was reported to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office by EWU security,” the school said.
The university, which is in a historically Black neighborhood, went into lockdown Saturday and students living on campus were told to stay in their residence halls.
