JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A former schoolmate of the suspect who murdered three Black people before turning the gun on himself at the Kings Road Dollar General Saturday described him as 'introverted and socially awkward.'
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office confirmed the suspect is 21-year-old Ryan Palmeter.
On Sunday, FBI and law enforcement personnel were seen at the home Palmeter lived at with his parents in Clay County.
"He was very involved in internet humor," former schoolmate Andres Sanchez said.
Sanchez lives right down the street from Palmeter's home.
He says they went to Oakleaf Village Middle School together.
Sanchez is two years older, but said the two used to ride the school bus together.
"I would sometimes go to his house and play video games," Sanchez said.
Sanchez says he hasn't seen Palmeter since 2019, but sees his dad walk around the neighborhood.
Another neighbor named Greg says he knows Palmeter's parents well.
"His parents are the type of people that help anybody, anytime, anywhere. And it was a tragedy when that's happened," Greg said.
Greg says he never met Ryan personally but says he 'seemed like a good kid.'
"From what I understand he was on medication and for some reason, he got off of it probably a few days or a couple of days ahead of that. That's probably when he snapped," Greg said.
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office says the shooting was racially motivated and Palmeter left behind a violent near 30-page manifesto on his computer addressed to his parents, the media and federal agents.
"The manifesto is quite frankly the diary of a madman," Sheriff TK Waters said.
Sheriff TK Waters says Palmeter was baker acted in 2017, but had no criminal history, and bought the two guns used in the shooting legally.
"There was no flag that could have come up to stop him from purchasing those guns," Waters said.
Surveillance video released by the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office shows moments before Palmeter shot into a car in the parking lot of the Dollar General and inside the store. He killed three people, before killing himself.
Sanchez says the crime hits too close to home.
"This neighborhood, it's very much culturally mixed. We have people who are African American, Asian, Hispanic, it's and so on to believe that these ideologies, it just shocks me to my core on how disgusting and vile something can happen in our small knit community," Sanchez said.
Greg says the community is 'shocked' but asks the community not to blame Palmeter's parents.
"They don't own weapons," Greg explained. "When they got the note from him, saying that he was going to do this or thinking about doing this. It was too late already. When they called the Clay County Sheriff's he already committed the shootings."
The sheriff says the manifesto will eventually be released but right now they are still going through it with a fine tooth comb.