JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A prayer vigil Thursday honored the lives of Angela Carr, Jerrald Gallion and A.J. Laguerre Jr., nearly two years after the three were killed in a racially-motivated attack at a Dollar General in Jacksonville.
A historic marker was unveiled near the store in August to mark one year since the three were killed and to recognize the bravery of a survivor.
The top of that marker at Kings Road Memorial Park displays the date of the shooting along with the words “Lives Lost.”
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On Aug. 26, 2023, a 21-year-old gunman from Clay County walked into the Dollar General and opened fire, killing 19-year-old Laguerre, 29-year-old Gallion, and 52-year-old Carr before turning the gun on himself.
Sheriff T.K. Waters said writings the gunman left behind made it clear the attack was racially motivated.
“This is a dark day in Jacksonville,” Waters said right after the shooting. “Any loss of life is tragic, but the hate that motivated the shooter’s killing spree adds an additional layer of heartbreak.”
The prayer vigil outside the store was planned for Juneteenth, a federal holiday that commemorates the ending of slavery in the United States.
Pastors and the community wanted to make sure Duval County never forgets what happened at the store, so people came together to pause and remember.
“The Black community has suffered so many tragic events throughout history,” said Pastor Jeffrey Dove of St. James AME Church. “I think being Black in America, we have normalized tragedy in the Black community.”
But Grand Park Association President Darlene Neal said there was nothing normal about the events of August 2023.
“What is this world coming to? So, we are back in 1964 when things like that happened? We are in the 2000s, and this is what’s going on?” Neal said. “In a store, shopping, you get shot down? You can’t even go to a grocery store? All of our lives matter, but to take innocent people’s lives like that, like it’s nothing, it’s hurtful.”
But Dove said a change will come, and this Juneteenth should be the start of a new era.
“I think it’s only right that we continue to celebrate it in the spirit of looking back, but always pressing forward,” Dove said.
Below is an account of what happened on the day a gunman with swastikas painted on his rifle opened fire at the Dollar General:
‘Disgusting ideology’
Just after 11:30 a.m., Clay County Sheriff Michelle Cook told the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office that the shooter left the Clay County area and was headed to Jacksonville.
By 1:18 p.m., the shooter sent a text to his father, telling him to check his computer, Waters said. That’s when the shooter’s parents called the Clay County Sheriff’s Office and told deputies they found a manifesto in their Oakleaf home.
Waters said three manifestos were written that expressed a “disgusting ideology of hate.” They were written, according to the sheriff, to the media, his parents and federal agents.
Waters said that the shooter was spotted putting on a mask and ballistics vest at Edward Waters University, an HBCU, before heading to Dollar General. Campus security attempted to catch the shooter, but he got away.
EWU officials sent out an alert to students about the situation as they were told to remain in their residence halls until the scene was cleared.
The sheriff said the shooter’s intentions were to target a “certain group of people.”
The sheriff confirmed that the shooter was armed with a PR-15 (an AR-15 style rifle), which had swastikas drawn on it and that a Glock was seen on the EWU campus moments before gunfire erupted.
The victims
A.J. Laguerre, 19, was shot inside the store while trying to flee the gunman, Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters told reporters.
Laguerre worked as a cashier at the store, and his store manager described him as a sweet, gentle and kind soul.
“He was so funny because he started to come out of his shell the more and more we worked together,” the manager said.
Laguerre was the youngest of five siblings, all raised by their grandmother after their mother died in 2009, his brother told the Associated Press.
The family celebrated in 2022 when A.J., like his older siblings before him, graduated from high school. As he looked into going to college to study cybersecurity, he got a job at the Dollar General store several months before the shooting to help their grandmother pay the bills.
When he was off the clock, A.J. played Fortnite and other videogames on the live-streaming platform Twitch, his brother said, using the gamer tag galaxysoul. His goal was to build a large online following.
“He had dreams and aspirations of being a professional streamer,” Quan Laguerre said. “So after he would get off work, he’d just stay up until 3 or 4 in the morning just grinding, you know, trying to get that stance and have followers.”
Angela Michelle Carr, a 52-year-old Uber driver and beloved mother, was killed in the parking lot when the shooter fired bullets into her car.
According to her family’s attorney, Carr had just dropped off a customer and was waiting for the person to get back in the car.
“My mother, she was a good woman,” son Chayvaughn Payne told the Associated Press.
Carr joined St. Stephen African Methodist Episcopal Church in Jacksonville when she was 3 and still attended services there. The pastor said the church community has rallied behind her family.
“She was just a loving, caring mother,” the Rev. David Green said.
Jerrald Gallion, 29, was shot while entering the store’s front door with his girlfriend, who escaped.
“My brother shouldn’t have lost his life,” his sister, Latiffany Gallion, said. “A simple day of going to the store, and he’s taken away from us forever.”
Relatives recalled Gallion’s sense of humor and work ethic. He worked two to three jobs, including as a restaurant manager, to provide for his then 4-year-old daughter.
His family said he relished weekends with her.
“He never missed a beat,” said Sabrina Rozier, the child’s maternal grandmother. “He got her every weekend. As a matter of fact, he was supposed to have her (the day of the shooting).”
But Gallion never made it to pick up his daughter.
