JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Family, friends and the Jacksonville community are paying their final respects on Friday and Saturday to those who died in a racist attack at a Dollar General store in New Town.
Saturday marks two weeks since the shooting.
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A memorial service was held at The Bethel Baptist Church on Friday morning for Angela Michelle Carr.
Carr was 52 years old, and the first person shot.
She was sitting in her car outside the Dollar General after dropping someone off.
Carr is remembered as a mother of three and a grandmother of 14.
Her son, Chayvaughn Payne, spoke during the service and called her a strong, beautiful queen.
“She was a hard-working woman. I watched her do everything as a child. And we talked every day no matter what. Mad, sad, happy, it didn’t matter. It could be raining outside, it could be a hurricane, she’d call,” he said. “But this ain’t a time to cry no more. We not crying no more. She said stop crying. We celebrating.”
Civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton gave her eulogy and her family’s attorney, Ben Crump, made a national call for justice.
“This woman was loved by family. She did nothing wrong, and this family should not have to hear all of this today and see all these cameras today and Tuesday we forget it,” Sharpton said. “I’d like them to form a scholarship in her name so that some children from now on will go to school in her name. And they’ll ask ‘Well, who was Angela Michelle Carr? Who was Angie’ And then you can tell the story. She didn’t hurt nobody, she was driving an Uber, waiting on her passenger and hate killed her. But we turned the hate into love by sending people to school in her name.”
Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan was also in attendance.
“I just want to say first of all to the family, I love you,” an emotional Deegan said. “I am so incredibly saddened for your loss...We are a community, we will continue to move together, we will continue to proclaim that hate has no home in Jacksonville.”
A.J. Laguerre, Jr.’s funeral was also held Friday morning at Joshua Christian Faith Center on Saint Clair Street in the Woodstock neighborhood.
Laguerre worked at the Dollar General.
The 19-year-old had just graduated from high school and had dreams of becoming a professional video game streamer.
“He had such a beautiful personality. He’d say, ‘Shawty, what you want.’ I’d say, ‘I want this up there, but I want this up there.’ He would say, ‘Move back and let me take over,’” said Florine Harris, who attended the service and frequently shopped at the Dollar General.
A viewing is also planned for Jerrald Gallion. It was planned for 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday at St. Paul Church of Jacksonville on Winton Drive. His funeral is planned for Saturday at 11 a.m. at the church.
Family members described Gallion as a loving and devoted father to his 4-year-old daughter. He was 29 years old.
“Jerrald I was a very loving person,” said Demornae Gibbs, who is Gallion’s sister. “Very hard-working. He loved his family.”
“If anything, I want his name to make us love one another a little bit more,” said Latiffany Gallion, who is one of Gallion’s other sisters. “Love this person a little bit more. Love that person a little bit more. We have to love each other a little bit more. So, he does not die in vain.”
“He helped others,” said Carrol Gibbs, who is Gallion’s mother. “He brought sunshine in our lives.”
There are GoFundMe accounts for each of the victims’ families.