JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville family is remembering their loved one almost eight months after his shooting death.
Willie Jackson was 72 when he was gunned down at his Grand Park home.
It’s not the way his family imagined losing him, but they’re keeping his memory alive.
“My dad had told me when he was in rehab, I’m going to be famous one day and then I thought about the fact that when my dad was in school, he was a track runner,” said Harris.
That’s how Harris came up with a 5K run to honor her dad’s legacy.
Harris says she got the horrible call about her dad when she was at church.
“I was maybe about ten minutes away, but it must’ve taken me about thirty minutes to get there,” said Harris.
She says she eventually ended up at the hospital, where her dad died from his injuries.
She says her dad was wheelchair bound and bothered no one.
“I know nothing that could have transpired to may have caused that, and I think the only person would know answers would be him and that person,” said Harris.
This Saturday is the annual ‘Ditch the Weight and Guns 5K Walk and Run.’
Harris says it’s the best way to honor her father, a former track star at Raines High School in the 60s and a man who wouldn’t stand for all the gun violence across the city.
“I thought about the scripture love thy neighbor as we love ourselves and I was thinking those persons who are doing those things can’t first of all love themselves,” said Harris.
If you’d like to participate in the 5K, call 904-207-4209, Brigitte Harris.