JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Thursday marks two months since three people were killed by a racist 21-year-old man at a Jacksonville Dollar General. Currently, the store on Kings Road is closed and three large memorials stand in front of it.
The Dollar General will not reopen this month, as it was previously scheduled to. There is not a reopening date for it either, according to the latest update from a company spokesperson.
As the company works on a remodel inside, which First Coast News is working to learn more about, outside the store are the large memorials neighbors pass by every day.
In two months, tags on memorial stuffed teddy bears are faded and balloons have lost their breath. But, the memorials for Jerrald Gallion, Angela Carr and Anotl "AJ" Laguerre Jr. are visible from the living rooms of homes across the street on Kings Road.
Angela Myers-Robinson lives down the road from the store and has avoided the site of the August shooting.
"Nobody likes to reflect on sadness that much," Myers-Robinson said.
Myers-Robinson is working to try to make the neighborhood feel safer for everyone by focusing on getting a neighborhood association up and running and getting the city involved.
"The neighborhood is still feeling a little suppressed," Myers-Robinson said.
Myers-Robinson says violence is still a problem in her neighborhood and that after the Dollar General shooting, it was flooded with support. Now, she asks this question in regard to that support.
"Is it going to keep on going so people can have answers so you can feel a little safer?" Myers-Robinson asked. "Because right now, there are not that many changes. There's still more killings and killings."
Neighbors say the Dollar General was an important source of food for some people and provided jobs close to home. First Coast News asked the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office about any changes they may have made in covering the New Town area and is waiting to hear back from them.
A federal investigation into the mass shooting is underway by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
First Coast News spoke with Myers-Robinson and neighbors across the street from the Dollar General eight hours before the mass shooting in Maine.