HUNDREDS of people gathered at prayer vigils and in church on Sunday to mourn yet another racist murder in the United States.

The killing of three black people — Angela Michelle Carr, teenager AJ Laguerre and Jerrald Gallion — in Florida on Saturday at the hands of white supremacist Ryan Palmeter laid bare the depths of racism in the country and was the 474th mass shooting in the US this year.

Ms Carr was shot in her car, Mr Laguerre was shot as he tried to flee the scene and Mr Gallion was shot by Mr Palmeter as he entered a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, a predominantly black neighbourhood.

After services earlier, about 200 people showed up at a Sunday evening vigil a block from where Mr Palmeter opened fire using guns he bought legally despite a past involuntary commitment for a mental health exam.

Governor Ron DeSantis, who is running for the Republican nomination for president, has loosened gun laws in Florida and derided what he described as “wokeness” from those supporting anti-racism.

The governor was loudly booed as he spoke at the vigil, prompting Ju’Coby Pittman, a Jacksonville city councilwoman who represents the area where the shooting took place, to step in to say: “It ain’t about parties today. A bullet don’t know a party.”

Mr DeSantis said that on Monday the state would be announcing financial support for security at Edward Waters University, the historically black college near where the shooting occurred, and to help the affected families. 

He said the gunman was a “major-league scumbag. What he did is totally unacceptable in the state of Florida. We are not going to let people be targeted based on their race.”

But elected officials said racist attacks like Saturday’s have been encouraged by the political rhetoric of Governor DeSantis, including one taking aim at the teaching of black history in Florida.

State representative Angie Nixon, a Jacksonville Democrat, said: “We must be clear, it was not just racially motivated, it was racist violence that has been perpetuated by rhetoric and policies designed to attack black people, period.” 

President Joe Biden said in a statement: “We must say clearly and forcefully that white supremacy has no place in America. 

“We must refuse to live in a country where black families going to the store or black students going to school live in fear of being gunned down because of the colour of their skin.”