JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — On Aug. 26, 2023, cries were heard in the street as emergency vehicles raced around the Dollar General on Kings Road in Jacksonville.
On the same day one year later, the area was quiet. The store was closed and its parking lot was used mostly for U-turns. A year before it had been a crime scene.
On Monday, the one-year anniversary of the racist shooting at Dollar General that killed Jerrald Gallion, 29, Angela Carr, 52, and A.J. Laguerre, Jr., 19, Gallion's young daughter came to the place her father was killed.
“You wanna finish talking with Daddy before we go?” Sabrina Rozier asked her granddaughter.
Gallion was Rozier's son-in-law. Gallion's daughter was four when her father was killed.
“My granddaughter’s been talking a lot lately about how much she missed her dad and she wanted the world to know," Rozier said. "So we decided to do it on his death anniversary today.”
Rozier brought flowers to the memorial, which had been spruced up since last week.
“It still hurts," Rozier said. "It’s still unbelievable but we know it’s real. But we just deal with it as best as we can and we all rally around this little one to keep her dad’s memory alive.”
Emily Georgeo was on the scene last year working with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office as a 911 dispatcher. She, with her best friend and daughter, brought flowers to the memorial.
“As you can see, it’s a lot," Georgeo said about her emotions. "I don’t know how to say it. There’s no reason.”
The contrast between Monday and the same day last year was stark.
“It’s a ghost town right now,” said April Bridges, who lives nearby.
Bridges said she knew Laguerre and that she and her children were in the Dollar General 10 minutes before the shooting. She said she heard the gunshots and described the area as “chaos.”
“We’ll never be able to witness that glorious smile ever again in person," she said about Laguerre. "All we have now is pictures and memories.”
As the day passed on Monday, the storefront remained quiet.
“We really appreciate everything that took place yesterday at the soil ceremony, we appreciate the plaque," said Rozier. "But I just wish they would pass laws to end racism because this was uncalled for and it hurt a lot of people.”
The Dollar General will be open at regular hours Tuesday, the company said. A spokesperson told First Coast News employees still got paid Monday even though the store was closed.
