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Authorities share new details about the gunman and the victims of an apparent race-motivated shooting in Florida. Russia confirms the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin. And Vivek Ramaswamy says he would have certified Biden’s victory on Jan. 6, 2021.
Here’s the biggest news you missed this weekend.
Jacksonville shooter is identified
Authorities on Sunday named the white gunman who fatally shot three Black people in a race-motivated attack in Jacksonville, Florida, as Ryan Palmeter, 29.
According to police, video shows Palmeter entering a Dollar General parking lot Saturday afternoon and killing a woman in her car before he enters the store and kills two other people. Officials believe the gunman died by suicide as police entered the store.
Follow NBC News’ live blog for the latest on the Jacksonville shooting.
Officials also said Sunday that Palmeter was encountered at Edward Waters University, a historically Black college in Jacksonville, before the shooting. A campus security officer engaged with Palmeter, who refused to identify himself and then left the campus minutes before the shooting.
Palmeter, who wore a tactical vest and was armed with an AR-style rifle and a Glock handgun decorated with swastikas, according to authorities, had left messages for his parents, the media and federal law enforcement officials detailing racial hatred.
“This was, quite frankly, a maniac who decided he wanted to take lives,” Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said. “He targeted a certain group of people, and that’s Black people. That’s what he said he wanted to kill. And that’s very clear.”
The shooting 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.
Mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin confirmed dead. What now for the Wagner Group?
Russian investigative officials confirmed the death of mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, citing genetic analysis of the bodies in Wednesday’s plane crash.
Prigozhin’s death leaves an uncertain future for the Wagner Group and its often brutal and destabilizing presence in eastern Europe and the Middle East and across Africa.
Prigozhin and his mercenaries have supported strongmen in Africa and earned riches on the back of it, accused of exploiting gold and diamond mines in some countries in return for military support.
After the deaths of Prigozhin and some of his lieutenants, a power vacuum in the Wagner group could make it easier for the Kremlin and Russia’s military leaders to determine what happens next.
Star swimmer died of fentanyl poisoning
A former star swimmer who was found dead in the U.S. Virgin Islands in February died of accidental fentanyl poisoning, police said Saturday.
Jamie Cail, 42, died of “fentanyl intoxication,” the Virgin Islands Police Department said Saturday, citing an autopsy report from the territory’s medical examiner.
As a teenager, Cail won a gold medal in the 800-meter freestyle relay as a member of the U.S. team at the 1997 Pan Pacific Championships, according to the swimming news website SwimSwam.
At the March on Washington 60th anniversary, new challenges meet a familiar fight for justice
Dozens of marchers and speakers at the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom said many of the same concerns of the historic Aug. 28, 1963, gathering still linger.
The anniversary was billed as a “continuation, not a commemoration,” hosted by a number of groups, including the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network and the Drum Major Institute, which is modeled after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s principles to strengthen voting rights and end segregation.
“It’s a shift, a change that has taken place,” said Ann Breedlove, who attended the 1963 March on Washington. “It’s too bad we are still talking about these issues. But our leaders and Black people are speaking louder. We’re tired — sick and tired — of asking for justice.”
Speakers addressed concerns over Black history’s being scrubbed from K-12 education, abortion access, the Supreme Court’s abolishing affirmative action and reversals of LGBTQ rights.
Meet the Press
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said Sunday in an interview on “Meet the Press” that he would have certified the results of the 2020 presidential election and that then-Vice President Mike Pence missed a “historic opportunity” to initiate changes on Jan. 6, 2021.
Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur who has closely aligned himself with former President Donald Trump, saw his star rise during the first Republican presidential primary debate last week.
Chuck Todd asked Ramaswamy whether Pence had done the right thing on Jan. 6 by certifying the results of the election. “I would have done it very differently. I think that there was a historic opportunity that he missed to reunite this country in that window,” Ramaswamy said.
He said that had he been in Pence’s position, he would have pushed “reforms” through Congress before he certified the election.
“Here’s what I would have said: ‘We need single-day voting on Election Day, we need paper ballots, and we need government-issued ID matching the voter file.’ And if we achieve that, then we have achieved victory and we should not have any further complaint about election integrity. I would have driven it through the Senate,” he said.
Pence’s presidential campaigned denounced Ramaswamy’s remarks as an attempt to nationalize voting and for a “lack of understanding of how our system of government works.”
You can watch the full interview here.
Politics in Brief
Biden impeachment inquiry: House Speaker Kevin McCarthy signaled movement toward an impeachment inquiry into Biden’s business dealings, calling the move a “natural step forward.”
Newsom vs. DeSantis: Some of Biden’s political advisers see California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to debate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as a bad idea, saying it carries more risk than potential reward.
Immigration: The Biden administration and New York officials are fighting over what to do about 58,000 asylum–seekers in New York City’s care, some of whom are sleeping on the streets as shelters reach capacity.
Iowa voters: Republican caucusgoers in the Hawkeye State are self-described “traditional” conservatives who overwhelmingly say they would use the phrase “pro-life” to describe themselves, according to new data from the latest NBC News/Des Moines Register/Mediacom statewide poll.
Culture & Trends
Bob Barker, longtime ‘The Price Is Right’ host, dies at 99
Bob Barker, the longtime host of television’s “The Price Is Right,” who used his combination of comfort-food charm and deadpan humor to become an American television staple, died this weekend. He was 99.
Before Barker took the helm of the game show in 1972, it had faded significantly from its glory days and had been punted by two networks before it landed at CBS.
Barker found the show its own voice, and it has continued to air a decade and a half after he retired.
Read more about Bob Barker’s life and career.
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