JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Lawyers for the families of three Black residents killed in a racially motivated shooting at a Jacksonville Dollar General store have filed a lawsuit.
They’re suing the store, the security company and the shooter’s parents.
On Tuesday, there will be a news conference to announce more details led by prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump.
The suit states that negligent security at the store as well as negligent parenting led to the wrongful deaths of Jerald Gallion, Angela Carr and A.J. Laguerre Jr.
Lawyers are alleging that Dollar General failed to protect its customers and its employees and states that the shooter’s family should have been aware that he was a dangerous person with an obsession with firearms and violence.
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The lawsuit included new photos of the shooter’s bedroom that showed bottles of alcohol, prescription pills and artwork that lawyers said glorifies death.
Attorneys said images like one that included a smiling teenager with a deceased child on a road should have alerted the shooter’s parents that their son was both a danger to himself and others.
Attorney Gene Nichols, who is not affiliated with the case, said there will be some challenges when it comes to suing the shooter’s parents.
“When it’s all said and done, he was an adult, he was a grown-up. He was not under the care of his parents though he may have been living there,” Nichols said.
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After reading over the 91-page lawsuit for the first time on Monday, Nichols said the more significant claims are allegations of negligence on behalf of owners of the property and the security company hired by Dollar General. The lawsuit reads in part the defendant Dollar General and their security company should have known, that before Aug. 26 that “numerous criminal acts including, but not limited to, shootings, assaults, muggings, batteries, burglaries, robberies, and drug dealing, occurred on or around the subject premises, and throughout adjacent areas.” According to the lawsuit, the Grand Park store was burglarized the day before the shooting.
“The allegations in the complaint are very clear that this neighborhood, that this location was unfortunately populated with crime, that there have been multiple events of crime in that area. And that will become part of the litigation,” Nichols said.
According to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, the shooter, who was from Clay County, left a detailed manifesto, which in his own words explained why he specifically targeted Black residents at Dollar General. The manifesto has yet to be released and could contain information that could either benefit the prosecution or the defense, according to experts.
The families of the three victims along with Crump are expected to lay out their case, and the victims’ families may talk as well.
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