In Jacksonville, Florida, the community is in mourning after three people — all of whom were Black — were killed by a white man who entered a Dollar General store on Saturday and opened fire in what has been described by the local sheriff as a “racially motivated” shooting. An employee at the store, 19-year-old Anolt Joseph “AJ” Laguerre Jr.; 29-year-old Jerrald Gallion; and 52-year-old Angela Michelle Carr were all victims in this senseless crime. While the larger community processes the continued loss of safe spaces and Black lives to the violence of white supremacy, family members and loved ones mourn the death of the victims.
“My mother was an INCREDIBLE woman. She was fearless and thoughtful, rough yet gentle. My family lost a light but gained a star. Although the circumstance in which she died was a horrific one, I pray for ALL the families involved because we’ve all lost a vital part of our lives and unexpectedly,” Carr’s daughter Ashley Carr tells Rolling Stone. “Even though this ordeal is labeled a race crime, I hope his spirit is now at rest. My mom is and will always be the best woman in the world to me no matter what we went through, I knew I could always count on her and now she’s gone.”
Carr is survived by three children and 16 grandchildren. “I’m at a total loss for words all I can do is continue to pray for strength not only for my family but also for the other families and hope they find comfort within their friends and family and love each other because you just never know when it’ll be the end,” her daughter added.
“I am broken. She was my everything even on the worst days,” Carr’s daughter Meghan Griiffin wrote on Facebook, early Sunday morning, later adding: “This gotta be the Twilight Zone. Ain’t no way he just walked up and point blank killed my mama. This is really hard.”
Griffin also reposted a number of posts shared by her brother and Carr’s son Chayvaughn Payne. “Now I know how friends feel waking up without your mom, this shit hurt,” he wrote on Facebook on Sunday. “Bruh that shit didn’t really register last [night] all I felt was anger today I’m lost. Angie why it had to be you? Man, come back please come back I’m not strong enough for this shit man I’m not.”
According to a report from the New York Times, Carr was completing rides as an Uber driver on Saturday and had just dropped off a friend at the Dollar General location when she was killed. In a statement, her Payne, shared: “She would give her shirt off her back for people.”
Carr’s niece NeCole Law also shared a tribute to the 52-year-old. “My heart is heavy. She was there for my very 1st ballon release to my mom,” she wrote. “Now I have to add you to the ritual. I’m sorry I let so much time go by. I love you auntie. I appreciate everything you done for me. Praying for your babies. I never thought I would have to help them with this kind of pain.”
Gallion’s family is also mourning the loss of a dedicated parent. The 29-year-old is survived by his four-year-old daughter, Asia. On social media, his daughter’s mother and former partner, who posts under the name Karma Major, shared: “Dee I really wish you woulda made it out…I prayed to God dat you made it out. I don’t wanna hear it’s gone be okayy because it’s not… my baby lost her father, her best friend, her everything.”
Across multiple posts, she recalled the relationship that the father and his daughter shared, adding: “Her daddy taught her everything. Her full name, her full birthday, how to color, her manners, how to work her iPhone, her ABC’s, how to count… EVERYTHING MAN.”
Gallion’s girlfriend Elvesha Deloach was with him at the time of the shooting. “I really appreciate y’all for checking on me but I’m not okay, I need Dee to be ok,” she wrote on Facebook. “I had to run from someone shooting at me and seen Dee get shot.”
She later added, “God I thank you, I really do. [You] allowed me to come home to my 3 kids. But [why] take Dee from his?”
This is a developing story…