JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — In a lawsuit filed in Duval County Court on Monday, the families of the victims killed during a shooting at a Jacksonville Dollar General in August are accusing the 21-year-old shooter's parents of negligence and failure to take action to protect the safety of the general public.
The families of the three victims, Jerrald Gallion, 29, Anolt Laguerre Jr., 19, and Angela Carr, 52, argued in the lawsuit that Maryann and Stephen Palmeter knew their son had mental health issues and was previously Baker Acted, but allowed his "obsession" with guns and violence to continue without doing anything, which played a part in the racist shooting at Dollar General.
The lawsuit pointed to images taken of Ryan Palmeter's room showing bottles of alcohol, prescription medications, gun literature, and artwork that "glorified death," further arguing Palmeter's parents were aware of his alcoholism and issue with pain pills, as they were in "plain view" in his bedroom.
In a letter to his parents before his death, Palmeter described his troubles with alcohol and drugs, writing: "That alcoholism made it a lot easier until the end, though. It's just like those pain pills of yours, dad."
"At all material times, Defendant owed a duty of care to the general public to reasonably supervise Ryan Palmeter and to take such precautions as were reasonably necessary to protect the general public," the lawsuit states, "from reasonably foreseeable criminal acts which were likely to be committed by his son."
PHOTOS: A look inside the Dollar General shooter's bedroom
A look at the literature in the shooter's library:
- "The Christian and his Machine Gun."
The booklet discusses a "third viewpoint" found in the Bible regarding gun ownership by civilians, and answers the question: Should civilians own machine guns?
- "Shooter's Bible Guide to Firearms Assembly, Disassembly, and Cleaning"
Details the building of an AR-15, and provides step-by-step instructions for assembling, disassembling, and cleaning a firearm.
- "The Illustrated History of Revolvers, Pistols, & Submachine Guns"
A visual reference guide to revolvers, pistols, and submachine guns.
- "Weapons: Key Weapons & Weapon Systems from 1860 to the Present"
A visual guide to firearms used during the Civil War in the 1860s to present-day America.
- "A Time for War"
A thriller about a "secret attack" on US soil, and how the main character, a TV host "hounded for his position by left-wing forces in the media," takes down a billion-dollar electronics entrepreneur who "sold out his country"