JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Today marks three years since a racially motivated shooting took three lives at a Dollar General in New Town.
The families of 52-year-old Angela Carr, 29-year-old Jerrald Gallion and 19-year-old A.J. Laguerre Jr., the three victims shot and killed that day, gathered at Kings Road Memorial Park on Wednesday to honor the lives taken by one man’s hatred.
“We have to turn memory into action because we light the way forward when we create a Jacksonville where people can live,” said Michele Godfrey-Watson, the lead pastor at Refresh Ministries. “They can raise their families and pursue their dreams without fear because of the color of their skin.”
Investigators say that Ryan Palmeter from Clay County stormed into a Dollar General off Kings Road with the clear intention of killing black people three years ago today.
After taking the lives of Carr, Gallion and Laguerre, officials say Palmeter shot himself in a backroom.
Left in the victims’ places are three heart-shaped memorials, covered in flowers, American flags and crosses.
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“We’re coming together to honor their life and their legacy instead of the tragedy that actually happened,” said Michelle Norris, a cousin of Gallion’s.
Norris says Gallion was always laughing.
“His smile, his joking, the way he dressed, how he loved them Jaguars,” Norris said. “He was just an all-around good guy.”
Three years later, she says she still takes things day by day.
“Grief don’t end. You just learn how to cope with it as best as you can,” Norris said. “Death comes, grief is hard, but continue to look forward. Honor them as best as you can, never forget, [and] never let their name go silent. As we say his name, ‘Jerrald Gallion,’ always.”
City Councilwoman Ju’Coby Pittman says sharing in the heartbreak are the survivors who told her they were too emotional to make the ceremony.
“I had five of the survivors call me before the event, who were coming, and said, ‘I can’t do it,’” Pittman said. “This is a very emotional time, and for someone to come [into] our community from another county and target a community that just did not deserve what happened… We all come together.”
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She says those emotions are exactly why we can never let Jacksonville forget.
“This was a racist act, and he was a coward to kill himself and not stand for taking someone’s lives,” Pittman said. “We’ve done what we can. Is it enough? Probably not, and we will hope that there will never be another shooting like that.”
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