By Sarah N. Lynch and Maria Caspani

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The white gunman who shot and killed three Black people at a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Florida on Saturday was a 21-year-old who bought his guns legally and had no criminal history, local law enforcement said on Sunday.

The shooter, Ryan Christopher Palmeter, lived with his parents in a suburb of Jacksonville, Sheriff T.K. Waters told a news conference. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Waters has said the shooting was racially motivated. Authorities say the shooter left behind several manifestos for media, his parents and law enforcement detailing his hatred for Black people.

“There was no criminal record, nothing,” Waters said, adding the only thing on file was a domestic violence call with his brother. “There were no red flags.”

However, the sheriff said Palmeter in 2017 was briefly held under a state law called the Baker Act, which states a person can be “taken to a receiving facility for involuntary examination” during a mental health crisis.

Reuters could not immediately reach members of the gunman’s family for comment.

The gunman also left a will and a suicide note that were retrieved by his father, the Jacksonville sheriff said.

President Joe Biden in a statement on Sunday noted the shooting occurred the same day the country marked the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington, scene of Martin Luther King Jr’s famous “I have a dream” speech.

“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 color of their skin,” Biden said.

The Justice Department is investigating the shooting as a hate crime and an “act of racially motivated violent extremism,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. Garland said the shooting would be investigated as a hate crime.

Waters said the suspect was caught on video shooting Angela Michelle Carr, a 52-year-old woman, in her car outside the Dollar General , a U.S. discount chain. He then entered the store where he shot and killed 19-year-old Anolt Joseph “AJ” Laguerre Jr and Jerrald De’Shaun Gallion, 29.

Palmeter wore a tactical vest and his face was covered by a mask, Walters said. He carried a handgun and an “AR-15 style” rifle, with swastikas on it, police said, referring to a lightweight semi-automatic long gun often used in mass shootings.

Authorities said he was spotted trying to enter a local historically Black college, Edward Waters University, on Saturday before heading to the Dollar General store.

Palmeter had refused to identify himself to a campus officer and was turned away. “It was later determined that the individual would be involved in a shooting near EWU campus,” the university said.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said on Sunday the state would work with the school to ensure it has adequate security following Saturday’s shooting.

DeSantis, a Republican presidential candidate, has been sharply criticized by Black leaders for what they say is his government’s attack on Black history.

In January, Florida banned an Advanced Placement course on African-American history from being offered to high school students. In July, the state changed how history is taught in schools.

DeSantis was booed when he began to speak at a prayer vigil for the three victims on Sunday.

Jacksonville city councilwoman Ju’Coby Pittman, a Democrat who represents the area where the shooting took place, chastised the crowd and told them the governor was there to help.

DeSantis then told the crowd the gunman was “a major-league scumbag” and said in Florida “we’re not going to let people be targeted based on their race.”

Shortly after DeSantis spoke, Jeffrey Rumlin, a pastor at the Dayspring Church in Jacksonville, took the microphone and said of the shooter: “At the end of the day, respectfully, governor, he was not a scumbag. He was a racist.”

(Reporting by Maria Caspani in New York, Sarah N. Lynch in Washington and Brad Brooks in Longmont, Colorado; Writing by Maria Caspani; Editing by Lisa Shumaker, Bill Berkrot and Chris Reese)

By Kirsty Needham

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Friends of detained Australian writer Yang Hengjun, put on trial in Beijing two years ago on undisclosed national security charges, say they fear for his health amid delays in a verdict in his case.

Pro-democracy blogger Yang is an Australian citizen born in China who was working in New York before his arrest at Guangzhou airport in 2019. His arrest coincided with a deterioration in relations between Australia and China and a verdict in his case has been repeatedly delayed.

A Beijing court heard Yang’s trial in secret in May 2021 and the case against him has never been publicly disclosed. He has denied working as a spy for Australia or the United States. After 10 delays, a verdict in his case is due in October.

The Australian Embassy in Beijing visited Yang on Thursday and was told he had a 10 cm (4 inch) cyst on his kidney that may require surgery, heightening concerns for his health, said Feng Chongyi, his former academic supervisor at the University of Technology, Sydney, who has been briefed on the matter.

“I think this is a strong case for the Australian government to demand for Yang’s release to Australia on medical parole,” Feng said.

A statement by China’s foreign ministry after Reuters sought comment made no mention of his condition.

It said Yang was “suspected of engaging in criminal activities that endanger the national security of the PRC” and said Chinese judicial bodies were reviewing his case.

It added China “opposes any person interfering via any means” in China’s judicial processes.

Yang’s case, and that of detained Australian journalist Cheng Lei, tried in secret on national security charges in March 2022, are being closely watched in Australia ahead of an anticipated visit by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to Beijing.

Albanese told reporters on Monday he would raise the concerns about Yang’s health when he meets Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 meeting next month.

“We always raise issues of Australian citizens where either myself or my ministers meet with our international counterparts,” he said, when asked about Yang’s case.

A spokesperson for Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the government shared the concerns of Yang’s friends about delays in his case, and had called for basic standards of justice and medical treatment.

“The Australian government has consistently advocated for Dr Yang’s interests and wellbeing, and for him to be reunited with his family,” she said.

Yang said in a message to his friends that he was concerned about an article online accusing him of being recruited by a CIA agent posing as an exchange student in Shanghai in the 1980s, which he strongly denied.

Feng said Yang’s supporters are worried his case will be used by the Chinese government to highlight its counter-espionage campaign.

Relations between the United States and China have soured in recent years over a range of issues, including national security with both sides accusing the other of espionage.

China expanded its anti-spying law in July, alarming the United States.

(Reporting by Kirsty Needham in Sydney and Laurie Chen in Beijing, additional reporting by Alasdair Pal in Sydney; Editing by Neil Fullick and Alison Williams)

By Asif Shahzad

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – A Pakistani court on Monday quashed a sedition case against former Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday, a relief for the embattled leader whose appeal against conviction in a separate corruption case will be decided on by a high court on Tuesday.

The 70-year-old former cricket hero had filed an appeal in the Islamabad High Court, seeking to suspend his three year sentence on corruption charges handed to him earlier this month, saying he was convicted without being given a right to defence.

“Judgement is reserved,” his lawyer Naeem Panjutha said in a post on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter about the graft case, adding that the court will announce the ruling on Tuesday.

The sedition case was registered in the southwestern city of Quetta in March, the capital of Balochistan province, based on an allegation that one of Khan’s speeches was seditious.

Balochistan High Court said on Monday prosecutors had failed to obtain the required consent from the federal or provincial government to lodge sedition charges.

The charges are “without lawful authority and are of no legal effect,” the court ruled, throwing out the case.

“God be praised,” Panjutha said in a jubilant post on X platform about the ruling on sedition case, which was among dozens of cases brought against Khan after he lost a parliamentary confidence vote in April 2022.

Khan lost power after falling out with Pakistan’s influential military, and his attempts to rally popular support have stirred political turmoil in a country already struggling through one of its worst economic crises.

A general election was expected in November, though it is likely to be delayed until at least early next year.

Khan cannot run and has been barred from holding political office for five years.

Aside from the graft and sedition cases, Khan is also facing charges ranging from terrorism and encouraging assaults on state institutions – after his supporters attacked military and government installations in May – as well as abetment to murder following the slaying of a Supreme Court lawyer in June.

(Reporting by Asif Shahzad; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)