Victims, Shooter ID'd in Racist Shooting at Jacksonville Dollar General Store (2024)

One day after a man motivated by racism shot and killed three Black people in Jacksonville, Fla., the community gathered to mourn the loss of a devoted father, a loving mother and a recent high school graduate with a world of potential.

Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said in a press conference Saturday that the city “suffered the loss of three precious lives” when a 21-year-old White gunman arrived at a Dollar General store and opened fire, targeting Black people.

The victims were store employee Anolt Joseph “A.J.” Laguerre, 19, customer Jerrald Gallion, 29, and Angela Michelle Carr, 52, Waters said.

Carr was shot in her vehicle outside the store, according to police. Laguerre was shot trying to flee, while Gallion was shot on his way into the store with his girlfriend, who was able to escape.

Family members, friends, and other members of the community gathered at several prayer vigils and at a local church on Saturday where they remembered the victims.

Gallion was remembered as a loving father who had planned to spend the weekend with his 4-year-old daughter Je Asia, according to The Associated Press.

“He never missed a beat,” Je Asia’s maternal grandmother Sabrina Rozier said at a memorial on Sunday. “He got her every weekend. As a matter of fact, he was supposed to have her (Saturday).”

Rozier said the family has struggled to explain Gallion's murder to his daughter. “We’re trying to decide how to tell his one and only daughter that he’s not coming back,” Rozier said. “I’m her grandmother and I don’t know how to tell her. I don’t have the words.”

The AP also reported that the 29-year-old father was a member of the St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church. The church’s Bishop John Guns spoke at the memorial and said Gallion was the 33rd church attendee who was murdered in his 27 years as bishop.

“In two weeks I have to preach a funeral of a man who should still be alive,” Guns said, according to the AP. “He was not a gangster, he was not a thug — he was a father who gave his life to Jesus and was trying to get it together.”

The bishop added: “I wept in church today like a baby because my heart is tired. We are exhausted.”

Carr was shot outside the store while sitting in her vehicle, police said.

The New York Times reported that her son Chayvaughn Payne said she was an Uber driver and that she had just dropped off a friend at the store, before the gunman approached her vehicle and began firing rounds through the windshield.

“She would give her shirt off her back for people,” Payne, 30, told the Times. “This is really hard to process. To lose a mother for nothing.”

Laguerre Jr. was 19 years old and recently graduated high school, his father Anolt told NBC News.

“He hasn’t even lived his life yet,” A.J.’s father said.

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up forPEOPLE's free True Crime newsletterfor breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.

Waters said at Saturday's press conference that the community "is grappling to understand why this atrocity occurred," identifying the shooter as Ryan Palmeter. The shooter died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities have said.

“I urge us all not to look for sense in a senseless act of violence," the sheriff said. "There’s no reason or explanation that will ever account for the shooter’s decisions and actions. His sickening ideology is not representative of the values of this Jacksonville community that we all love so much. We are not a community of hate.”

On Sunday, the city of Jacksonville tweeted Sunday photos of hundreds of people gathered together at the victims’ memorial.

“Remember their names and hold their families close to your heart,” the city said.

To help combat systemic racism, consider learning from or donating to these organizations:

• Campaign Zero works to end police brutality in America through research-proven strategies.
• ColorofChange.org works to make the government more responsive to racial disparities.
• National Cares Mentoring Movement provides social and academic support to help Black youth succeed in college and beyond.