Funerals got underway Friday for killed by a racist gunman at a Florida discount store, with friends and relatives sharing warm memories while ministers and activists called for action against rising hate crimes and gun violence.
Mourners at the funeral service for Angela Michelle Carr applauded the Rev. Al Sharpton as he criticized laws that allowed the gunman to buy an assault-style rifle years after he was involuntarily committed for a mental health examination. He also denounced white supremacists who demonstrated outside Disney World a week after the in Jacksonville.
"How many people have to die before you get up 鈥� whether you鈥檙e a Republican or a Democrat 鈥� and say we鈥檝e got to stop this and we鈥檝e got to bring some sanity back in this country?" Sharpton said. 鈥淗ave we gotten so out of bounds that we鈥檝e normalized this stuff happening?鈥�
Carr, 52, worked as an Uber driver and was sitting in her idling car outside a store when she was shot multiple times. The gunman then went inside and killed A.J. Laguerre, a 19-year-old store employee, as he tried to flee. Jerrald Gallion, 29, was fatally shot after walking through the front door with his girlfriend, who escaped.
The shooter, Ryan Palmeter, killed himself. Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said 21-year-old Palmeter targeted his victims because they were Black and left behind white supremacist ramblings that read like 鈥渢he diary of a madman.鈥�
On Friday, Gallion's 4-year-old daughter sat with her maternal grandmother in the pews at Carr's funeral. Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan also attended the service at The Bethel Church, where the pastor thanked Jacksonville's sheriff for providing extra security.
鈥淲e gather together as a hurting community because this was not just an attack on the Carr family and our other two families who lost their loved ones,鈥� said the Rev. David Green Sr., Carr's pastor at St. Stephens AME Church. "This was an attack on our entire community.鈥�
Carr was remembered during the church service as a devoted mother of three grown children who was loving but also fiercely tough.
Carr鈥檚 son, Chayvaughn Payne, called her 鈥渕y strong, beautiful queen.鈥�
鈥淪he was a hardworking woman,鈥� Payne said. 鈥淚 watched her do everything as a child. We talked every day no matter what 鈥� mad, sad, happy, it didn鈥檛 matter.鈥�
Tommy Dixon said he met Carr nearly 30 years ago when he bought a house next door to her brother. Carr, Dixon said, would defiantly park her car in his yard. They ended up becoming close friends.
鈥淲hat that guy took when he took her, he made an earth angel,鈥� Dixon said. 鈥淎 lot of people never knew who Angela was. Now the world knows.鈥�
While they insisted the focus should be on Carr's life, ministers speaking at her funeral repeatedly criticized , a Republican presidential candidate who had made a "war on woke鈥� a central issue of his campaign while downplaying the existence of racism.
鈥淩hetoric and other policies and governors have made it comfortable for people to come out of the closet with their hatred of those of us whose skin has been kissed by nature鈥檚 sun,鈥� Bishop Rudolph McKissick Jr., The Bethel Church's senior pastor, said during Carr's funeral.
DeSantis鈥� campaign has dismissed those who say he has emboldened white supremacists like the Jacksonville shooter. The governor attended a Jacksonville the day after the shootings and told the crowd: 鈥淲e are not going to let people be targeted based on their race.鈥�
The funeral service for Laguerre was also held Friday at a different Jacksonville church. Laguerre graduated from high school last year and worked at Dollar General to help support the grandmother who raised him and his four siblings after their mother died in 2009.
His older brother, Quan Laguerre, previously told The Associated Press that A.J. Laguerre spent his downtime trying to build an online following by playing video games on the streaming platform Twitch.
Gallion鈥檚 funeral was scheduled for Saturday. His family called him a doting father who worked two to three jobs, including as a restaurant manager, to provide for his young daughter, Je Asia Gallion. Gallion and his family were planning the girl鈥檚 fifth birthday party when he was slain.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 feel like I should have to say goodbye,鈥� Jasmine Mable, a cousin of Gallion鈥檚, told . 鈥淚 don鈥檛 feel like we should be having to part ways just because of the color of his skin. He didn鈥檛 deserve that.鈥�
Russ Bynum, The Associated Press
