JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office corrections officer and her family rebuilt a memorial honoring three people killed in a racially motivated shooting at a Dollar General in 2023.
After her shifts at the downtown jail, Corrections Officer Mary Malcom regularly drives past the Kings Road store where Angela Carr, 52, Anolt “A.J.” Laguerre Jr., 19, and Jerrald Gallion, 29, were killed, according to the sheriff’s office.
At the end of April, Malcom noticed the community-built memorial outside the store had been destroyed, the sheriff’s office said.
“She took it upon herself to rebuild what had been lost with the help of her husband and 9 children,” JSO stated.
Malcom told First Coast News she had driven past the damaged memorial multiple times before deciding she could not leave it that way.
“So then I rolled past the third time, and I said, ‘Oh no, it’s still not done,’” Malcom said. “And so my heart was hurting and aching, and I said, ‘I got to do something about it.’”
The rebuilt memorial includes flowers, statues and hearts created for each victim. Malcom said community members have continued adding flowers, rocks and flags.
“This community needed help,” Malcom told First Coast News. “The family needed help. I am a servant from God, and my job is to help people who need it the most. It’s about giving back and doing the right thing.”
JSO praised Malcom’s actions, saying she had never built a memorial before but “listened to what her heart pulled her to do.”
“We are incredibly proud of Corrections Officer Malcom’s heart for her community, not just in this moment, but in every moment she serves Jacksonville,” the sheriff’s office stated.
The Aug. 26, 2023, attack was investigated as racially motivated. The gunman killed Carr, Laguerre and Gallion before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to the Associated Press.
