Jax sheriff: Biden called after racial-based shooting, noted white supremacy ‘terrorist threat’

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said President Joe Biden called him after the recent shooting in Jacksonville and spoke about white supremacy being “the most dangerous domestic terrorist threat” in America.

The shooting suspect was targeting Black people, Waters previously announced.

Waters said Thursday that after Biden said that white supremacy is the “most dangerous domestic terrorist threat that we face in America,” the sheriff did not say anything “out of respect” for the president.

“[Biden] knew my silence was very, very telling to him, because he said, ‘I know you probably don’t agree with me, Sheriff,’” Waters said. “I left it there.”

Waters said the Aug. 26 shooting that took place at a Dollar General in Jacksonville “is not representative” of the community and he is “very passionate about that.”

“This is a maniac that left another county that came here and did something horrible in Jacksonville,” Waters said.

The 21-year-old shooter killed three people including a 19, 29 and 52-year old and then himself, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.

The sheriff said in his 32 years working at the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and 10 of those years being in the homicide unit, this was the “first incident” that he has seen involving white supremacy in the city.

“Now, when I say this, I become an Uncle Tom, a puppet, whatever you want to say, that’s what I become to leaders, supposed leaders in this community,” Waters said. “But the facts are these, we have issues in our Black communities that have to be addressed.”

Waters said that this year, 60% of Jacksonville’s homicide murders involved Black on Black murders and two years ago it was 82%.

“So you’re gonna tell me that the problem is white supremacy?” Waters said. “Sure, there are white supremacist, there are Blacks, I mean, everything you can imagine, it’s out there, small segments of them.”

“That doesn’t represent what people really are in these communities. And that doesn’t represent Jacksonville,” he continued. “And I will stand up every single day, every single minute, if they ask me, I’m going to tell them every time. And they’re going to try to change me and try to get me to  say something that’s not true, not gonna do it.”

Waters said he has been called an “Uncle Tom” his “whole life” and it “doesn’t matter” to him.

He said what matters to him is people “recognizing and understanding” that there are problems that are taking place that “don’t make our white community or our Muslim community or our Jewish community into these terrorist organizations that want to hurt Black people because that’s not the case.”

After the shooting, Democrats such as Rep. Angie Nixon, D-Jacksonville, have blamed the shooting on guns and Florida’s political leaders, claiming they have “not passed policies that put the safety of all communities first.”

Waters said “they want to talk about guns,” but it is “taking away personal responsibility” from the individual.

“They’ll call me a gun nut, they’ll call me all these things. That’s not it,” Waters said. “It’s the individual that grabs a hold of a firearm and decides they want to do something wicked with it and hurt people. That’s what he did.”

Waters pointed out that the “first murder wasn’t created with a gun.”

“Human beings do this stuff and it’s our job to work on trying to catch those human beings and stop them and hold them accountable,” Waters said.

Waters recognized that there are mental health issues, but said all “mentally ill people don’t mass murder people.”

Waters said he is a conservative and “won’t shake” and he is “not afraid.”

“If they want to vote me out of office because I believe in the truth in four years, then that happens,” Waters said. “But I’m gonna stand up here today and tell you face to face that I’m going to stand fast for Our community and for what we believe and what’s right.”