JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Gov. Ron DeSantis news conference in Jacksonville turned heated Thursday morning after a Black man in the crowd said the Florida governor’s policies contributed to the racist murder of three Black residents in Jacksonville last month.
During the question and answer portion of the news conference held on Jacksonville’s Southside, a Black man who was not a member of the media and identified himself as an Air Force veteran, said he is one of the Americans who does not agree with DeSantis’ policies.
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“I feel that you have enacted policies that hurt people like myself,” he said before referring to the recent shooting at a Dollar General store in New Town. “You have allowed weapons to be put on the street into immature hateful people that have caused the deaths of the people who were murdered a couple weeks ago.”
DeSantis then cut the man off as the man said “please let me finish, sir.”
“So first of all, I did not allow anything with that,” DeSantis rebutted while raising his voice and pointing at the man. “Excuse me. I’m not gonna let you accuse me of committing criminal activity. I am not going to take that. I’m not going to take that. You want to have a civil conversation that’s one thing...try to say that I’m letting...that guy was Baker Acted. He should have been ruled ineligible, but they didn’t involuntarily commit him.”
“Please allow me to speak my truth, sir,” the man continues.
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“No, there is the truth. There is something about the truth. It’s not everyone doesn’t have their own truth. You don’t get to come here and blame me for some madman. That is not appropriate, and I’m not going to accept it,” DeSantis continued.
The Orange Park man who took his own life following the racially motivated attack was, however, temporarily involuntarily held under the Baker Act in 2017 when he was 15 years old, records show. The act allows people to be involuntarily detained and subject to an examination for up to 72 hours during a mental health crisis.
Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said, but he later added, “There was nothing illegal about him owning the firearms.” The sheriff did not share what led to the Baker Act but said normally a person who has been detained under the act is not eligible to purchase firearms, CNN reported.
“You have allowed people to hunt people like me,” the man said later in the exchange with DeSantis.
“Oh, that is nonsense. That is such nonsense. We’ve done more, we’ve done more to support law enforcement in this state than anybody in throughout the United States,” DeSantis said.
The man was then escorted out after the exchange.
At a Jacksonville church on Thursday, faith leaders demanded Florida leaders stop sowing division.
“The governor didn’t pull the trigger. But he has. He’s creating a culture and an environment that enables that kind of thing to happen. He is responsible,” said Rev. Dr. Alvin O’Neal Jackson with the Christian Church Disciples of Christ.
The leaders put their thoughts into a letter they posted online.
“Life and death is not political. Hatred is not political. Bigotry and biases are not political. They’re learned behaviors,” said Rev. Dr. Joe Paramore with the Florida Council of Churches. “And DeSantis is teaching those behaviors. And it’s those behaviors that commit these acts of hatred.”
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, who is Black, spoke in defense of the governor and the conclusion of the news conference.
“Governor DeSantis is a good man,” Ladapo said. “It’s terrible that people take advantage of the fact that he’s a different color from the poor victims of that tragedy to try and tie him into something. It’s immoral and unfortunately, it’s reflective of what we’ve been saying for many years but certainly through the pandemic. Where people hide reality and they spin it and they try and make you buy what they’re trying to sell you and it’s not true.”
DeSantis has been criticized for not explicitly describing the killer as a racist at a vigil in Jacksonville. DeSantis was booed at the vigil, where he called the shooter “a major-league scumbag” and said, “We are not going to let people be targeted based on their race.”
DeSantis, who is running for the GOP nomination for president, who has loosened gun laws in Florida and who has antagonized civil rights leaders by deriding “wokeness.” He has been criticized by many, including Republican rivals, about Florida’s new education standards on slavery.