Families sue Jacksonville Dollar General over lax security

The hate crime that left three Black people dead inside a Jacksonville, Florida Dollar General store hurt many of us in not only a human way but a historical one as well. The shooter intentionally targeted Black bodies for death and news of the bloody tragedy took us back to a time when our lynching and mutilation was a fairly common occurrence in that particular part of the United States.

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Unfortunately, the cowardly shooter killed himself before he could be arrested and forced to stand trial in front of a judge and jury. We could care less about his life, however, with his death comes the removal of any chance for true justice. That said, there are still other parties responsible for the lives lost and the families plan to see that they are addressed in no uncertain terms.

Source: The Washington Post / Getty

According to an ABCNews report, the surviving family members of the victims, Angela Carr, Jerrald Gallion, and A.J. Laguerre, have filed a lawsuit against the store’s landlord, operator, and security contractor for negligence. They believe that the lax security measures were part and parcel to the racist shooter’s ability to open fire in the store unimpeded. For those who don’t remember, Ryan Palmeter, the killer, was stopped at two other locations before he found a store where he did not get any resistance from a security guard. This tenet is stated explicitly in the families’ suit.

“While Palmeter was deterred from harming the public at his two preceding stops, at this Dollar General, there was nothing in place to again deter Palmeter from attacking and killing innocent persons,” the families’ lawsuit said.

The filing goes on the say that all administrative and operational entities should have been more conscious of the violence surrounding their store even before the fatal shooting took place as the property has been the scene of other shootings, robberies, burglaries, and drug trafficking recently.

It was not publicly stated what damages the families are seeking nor how much, however, we will be publishing that information as it becomes available.