New lawsuits and a scholarship: Families reflect one year after Dollar General shooting

Three families who were joined through tragedy grieved differently on Monday – the first anniversary of the afternoon when a shooting rampage targeted Black people at a Jacksonville dollar store.

Twenty-nine-year-old Jerrald Gallion’s young daughter asked to spend the day talking about the good times.

Nineteen-year-old AJ Laguerre’s family accepted a posthumous associate’s degree in his honor and celebrated the launch of a scholarship in his name.

And 52-year-old Angela Carr’s family marked the anniversary by filing lawsuits against the parents of the Orange Park gunman who killed the three at the Dollar General in Grand Park on Aug. 26, 2023, before taking his own life.

‘Impact the world’

“No matter what the situation was, he just never complained,” Quan Laguerre said of his brother, AJ. “Especially throughout this time, I could find all the things to be negative about. But he would be, if he was here, he’d say, ‘Look, Quan, I have a scholarship, I’m blessing kids,’ and things like that. He will show the importance and positivity of things.”

AJ Laguerre had applied to FSCJ shortly after graduating from Raines High School in 2022 and planned to study cybersecurity. Monday morning at Raines, his brother Quan accepted his posthumous associate’s degree from FSCJ President John Avendano. Quan talked about AJ’s passion as a gamer. He smiled at the irony as he remembered the title of his favorite video game: Dead by Daylight .

On Monday’s anniversary, the PGA TOUR and Florida State College at Jacksonville officials also announced the endowed annual AJ Laguerre, Jr. scholarship, which will fund tuition and books for one student from the city’s Health Zone 1 who plans to study cybersecurity, IT, or a related field.

According to a the Aspen Institute , 9% of cybersecurity professionals are Black and 4% are Hispanic.

“Words can’t even express how grateful I am for it,” Laguerre said of the scholarship. “(He’s) able to impact not just one life, but many. That was his goal in life: impact the world.”

Still, heartbreak over AJ’s death was etched into the faces of his brothers, grandmothers and other family members who attended the scholarship unveiling.

A 5-year-old remembers

Years from now, Je’Asia Gallion may earn her college degree too. After all, the Rev. John Guns, pastor at St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church, promised during her dad’s funeral last year that her college would be funded.

For now, the 5-year-old is focused on her first day of kindergarten on Tuesday.

On Monday, Je’Asia stood on a curb in the shade of a tree in the shadows of the Dollar General where her father was murdered. An afternoon reminiscing was her idea. Je’Asia’s maternal grandmother, Sabrina Rozier, made it happen.

Je’Asia says she and her dad enjoyed watching the Drop It To The Floor challenge on TikTok. Another of her favorite memories with him was the afternoon they went to the beach and her dad completed a cartwheel in the surf. Another was the time Gallion took her to Chuck E. Cheese for her birthday and she ate a cake with the character Blippi on it.

These days, Je’Asia thinks about her daddy when she holds a teddy bear that contains a recording of his voice and when she writes her name – because they both begin with J.

New suits filed

On the same day, the family of Angela Carr family filed suit against the estate of Ryan Palmeter, the 21-year-old Clay County man whose rampage begat Monday’s remembrance, as well as against his parents.

The 43-page suit was filed by all of Carr’s living children –  Ashley Thomas, Armisha Payne and son Chayvaughn Payne – in Florida’s 4th Judicial Circuit.

Moné Holder, chief advocacy and political officer for Florida Rising, says the anniversary is a reminder that fight for inclusion and racial and justice continues.

“The brutal attack on our community was not just an isolated incident but a horrific manifestation of the racism and bigotry that has been allowed to fester in our state,” said Holder. “It’s still a tragic reminder that the scourge of white supremacy and gun violence continues to threaten the safety of Black communities.”

Armisha Payne, left, and Chayvaughn Payne, on far left in right image, are two of Angela Carr’s three children, who filed suit on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today

Their suit, filed by Jacksonville attorney John Phillips, alleges Palmeter’s parents should have been “aware of Palmeter’s mental health issues, hatred towards others, suicidal or homicidal ideations and violent propensities.”

A similar suit by members of the Laguerre and Gallion families was filed by high-profile attorney Ben Crump in December.

Monday’s suit from the Carr family blames Palmeter’s parents, Stephen and Maryann, for not alerting authorities or mental health professionals about their adult son.

“Stephen and/or Maryann Palmeter were aware that Palmeter was ‘holed up in his bedroom’ at their own house. However, they ignored it,” the suit says.

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