The families of three Jacksonville residents who were shot and killed in a local Dollar General are filing a wrongful death lawsuit against the bargain price retailer, Dollar General. Maryann and Stephen Palmeter, the parents of the suspected gunman, Ryan Christopher Palmeter, are also named as defendants along with Palmeter’s estate. The lawsuit also names Dollar General’s subsidiaries along with a third-party security company the retailer contracted with.

The 91-page lawsuit was filed earlier this week in Duval County Circuit Court and accuses Dollar General of failing to take appropriate measures to keep its customers and employees safe. The parents of the suspected shooter are also accused of failing to protect the greater public from "reasonably foreseeable criminal acts which were likely to be committed by their son."

The August 26th shooting occurred at the Dollar General on Kings Road in Jacksonville, a predominantly black neighborhood. Palmeter, who was white, was accused of targeting the location because of the demographics of the area. During his 11-minute killing spree, Palmeter indiscriminately fired at shoppers with an AR-15-style weapon. Officials later shared that his weapon was marked with a swastika.

Security footage of the shooting showed Palmeter firing 11 rounds at a black Kia parked outside the store, killing 52-year-old Angela Michelle Carr. Palmeter went on to shoot through the store's front door before entering. One inside, his indiscriminate shooting killed 29-year-old Jerrald De'Shaun Gallion and 19-year-old store clerk Anolt Joseph "AJ" Laguerre Jr. Palmeter would eventually turn the gun on himself before authorities arrived on the scene.

Prominent civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump is one of the attorneys representing the families. During a press conference held on Tuesday, Crump shared the targeted attack as a race-related attack but also pointed the finger at the retailer saying, "Dollar General, blood is on your hands, too."

Crump explained that the company put “profits over people” because their store did not have a security guard on duty during the time of the shooting. The lawsuit says that because the area was known to be a high crime area, the retailer had a duty to provide adequate security including a security guard on the premises.

"The presence of a security guard would have made all the difference in the world," Crump shared while surrounded by the children and other family members of the victims killed in the shooting.

In the lawsuit, the families point to Palmeter’s actions before he went on his rampage in Dollar General. According to investigators, Palmeter planned to attack a Jacksonville area Family Dollar discount store. Palmeter instead turned away and then set his sights on Edward Waters University, a historically black private college in the Jacksonville area. However, in both areas, Palmeter was deterred because of the presence of security guards at those locations. Palmeter would eventually execute his rampage at the New Town Dollar General store because there was no security guard to stop him. The lawsuit labels the store a "criminal safe haven" that was "devoid of meaningful security measures."

The lawsuit explains, "While Palmeter was deterred from harming the public at his two preceding stops, at this Dollar General, there was nothing in place to again deter Palmeter from attacking and killing innocent persons."

During the news conference announcing the lawsuit, 25-year-old Q'uantavius Laguerre, the brother of 19-year-old victim AJ, expressed, "If Dollar General just simply had somebody there to be security just as Family Dollar did, just as Edward Waters did, I wouldn't be up here speaking about AJ."

Palmeter’s parents, who live in Orange Park, Florida, are also accused of negligence because they failed to take actions that could have prevented their son from conducting his killing rampage. The lawsuit explains that among the parents’ failures was not “informing the authorities about the threat posed by Ryan Palmeter and by allowing him and/or assisting him to retain his firearms, despite the evident danger posed.”

The lawsuit also argues that the parents knew that their son was “dangerous,” that he had an obsession with violent firearms, and that he was “living in a room filled with prescription medication and alcohol.” The lawsuit also references that they should have known he was a “ticking time bomb."

After announcing the lawsuit, Dollar General issued a statement that read in part, "Since the hate-motivated violence that took place in our Kings Road store on August 26, our focus has remained on supporting and caring for our employees, the families of the victims and the Jacksonville community." The statement adds, "We do not believe there is any connection between store conditions and the tragic events of August 26. We are cooperating with OSHA in what we understand to be its standard investigation protocol following such an event."