JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – It’s been one year since 18-year-old Dari’one Flanigan was killed in a double shooting at a gas station in Springfield.
After 365 days, no arrests have been announced.
Vonette Nixon, Flanigan’s mother said her son -- who was an aspiring rapper -- had been singing in church and school since he was 3 years old.
“The first song he wrote it was called, I have big dreams,” Nixon said.
On June 24, 2019, Flanigan was killed in the parking lot of a BP on Main Street. Since then, Nixon has not stopped in her fight to find justice for her boy, who was nicknamed “Trouble.”
She posts daily on her Facebook with the hashtag #JusticeForTrouble, asking anyone with information to come forward.
“Our children are dying younger and younger each day, and we need the community to come together and talk. Speak up,” Nixon said.
There is little information from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office about the shooting, and it took 48 hours for the department to send out an advisory to the media.
A police report did reveal that another person was shot, and that the two victims drove to a hospital, where Flanigan died.
After a year, Nixon feels like she has more questions than answers. Her son’s name was never listed on JSO’s homicide data web page.
“I don’t want people to forget about Darione,” she said. “I want people to remember Dari’one Flanigan as his name. He was not number 60, he was Dari’one Flanigan. Again, he was a Black man that had an aspiring future.”