JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Dollar General employee who was inside of the store on Kings Road when three Black people were killed Saturday in a racially motivated shooting says it is a miracle, she made it out alive. Jacksonville police identified the shooter as 21-year-old Ryan Palmeter, a man who lived in Clay County with his parents.
The employee, who wants to be referred to as the nickname 'Queen' because she still works for Dollar General, says since Saturday, she constantly feels like she still hears the gunshots and sees the smokiness in the air of the gun powder. Queen says her 'heart hurts' and the victims didn't deserve to die.
"These people had everyday things going on in their lives that they couldn't control what happened it just happened so fast they didn't have a chance to speak and say anything," Queen said.
The Dollar General on Kings Road is still a crime scene. The building is inaccessible by police tape and fencing.
Queen says she was on shift when three black people were shot and killed Saturday. She says she was working at the front register and switched with her co-worker AJ. She went into the office. Moments later, Palmeter fired shots at a car parked outside killing 52-year-old Angela Carr. Then, he walks into the store shooting and killing Queen's coworker 19-year-old Anotl (AJ) Joseph Iaguerre Jr.
"He was a quiet soul, he was gentle, he was always shy never really had too many words to say, he was a sweetheart everybody loved AJ," Queen describes."
She says he lived with his grandmother and two brothers.
Another customer 29-year-old Jerrald Gallion was also killed after walking into the store with his girlfriend. Queen says she was watching everything unfold from the surveillance cameras inside the office.
"Reliving and reseeing it, rehearing it, not being able to help, being in survival mode, and barely being able to help myself," Queen said.
Queen says she watched Palmeter let some people leave the store unharmed.
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office says the shooting was racially motivated and Palmeter left behind a violent manifesto, one addressed to his parents, one to media and one to federal agents.
"I kind of knew from the jump I had seen what his first targets were and who he let by I'd seen it so I kind of figured that, but I was in a whole state of shock," Queen said.
She says when she watched Palmeter walk to the opposite end of the store, she eventually ran out of the office and through the front doors unharmed. JSO says the suspect eventually went into that same office and texted his dad, before killing himself. Queen says she knew all three victims.
"You never know, you could be doing day-to-day things and a split second gone off of someone who just doesn't care of their reactions of how they feel, I don't know just be careful out here, just be careful and I'm glad everyone else was able to get out," Queen said.
She says employees have asked the company to hire security guards and police officers as added protection for the store, but did not have any at the time of the shooting. Queen says she won't go back into the store if it reopens.