The family of a 29-year-old man killed in this weekend’s massacre at a Dollar General store in Florida has revealed how the young man planned to spend the weekend with his 4-year-old daughter—but was shot before he got a chance to see her.
Jerrald Gallion had only just entered the discount store with his girlfriend on Saturday when he was shot dead in what is being described as a “racially motivated” shooting in Jacksonville. The suspect, Ryan Christopher Palmeter, died after storming the store with two guns—a handgun and an AR-15-style rifle—one of which was reportedly decorated with a swastika. Authorities confirmed the 21-year-old turned a gun on himself and died by suicide.
“My brother shouldn’t have lost his life,” Latiffany Gallion told the Associated Press on Sunday. “A simple day of going to the store, and he’s taken away from us forever.” Two family members did not immediately reply to a request for comment from The Daily Beast.
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Several other relatives told the Associated Press that Gallion was a devoted father, and though his relationship with the child’s mother didn't work out, he still had the respect of her family.
“He never missed a beat,” Sabrina Rozier, the child’s maternal grandmother, said Sunday at a vigil honoring the victims. “He got her every weekend. As a matter of fact, he was supposed to have her (Saturday).”
Rozier said the family had not yet told the 4-year-old, Je Asia, and were struggling to decide how best to tell her. She revealed Gallion’s last conversation with his daughter was hours before his death, at about 2:30 a.m. Saturday, when she couldn’t sleep. The pair were supposed to meet later that day.
“My heart melted for my granddaughter, because she was his world and he was her world. And now we’re trying to figure out how to tell her, because we haven’t told her yet and she’s only 4.
“He’s been active since day one, this guy changed his whole life for her, he worked hard to take care of his daughter, they was looking forward to their father-daughter dance coming up in February, so now her uncle’s got to step in and take his place right now,” Rozier added.
“It’s hurtful, I thought racism was behind us and evidently it’s not.”
Bishop John Guns, whose St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church Gallion attended in Jacksonville, was also at the vigil Sunday.
“In two weeks I have to preach a funeral of a man who should still be alive,” Guns said. “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 Sheriff’s Office named the three victims Sunday, including 29-year-old Gallion. The other two victims are 52-year-old Angela Michelle Carr and 19-year-old Anolt Joseph “AJ” Laguerre Jr.
Few details are known on the other victims, though Carr was shot in her car and Laguerre in the store as he tried to flee.
In a series of Facebook posts, a man who identified himself as Angela Michelle Carr’s son expressed sorrow at not telling his mother he loved her before her death.
“I love you I’m sorry for everything I wish I would’ve told you this yesterday,” he wrote.
Dollar General also confirmed in a statement to CNN that Laguerre was an employee at the store.
“There is no place for hate at Dollar General or in the communities we serve,” the company added.
“Right now, we are focused on providing support, counseling and resources to our teams and their loved ones, and we are evaluating how we can best support and stand with the greater Jacksonville community during this sad and difficult time.”
In a statement Sunday, President Joe Biden said he and first lady Jill Biden “are praying for the victims and their families, and we grieve with the people of Jacksonville.
“Even as we continue searching for answers, we must say clearly and forcefully that white supremacy has no place in America,” Biden continued.
“We must refuse to live in a country where Black families going to the store or Black students going to school live in fear of being gunned down because of the color of their skin. Hate must have no safe harbor. Silence is complicity and we must not remain silent.”
