Jacksonville mayor manages Dollar General shootings, Hurricane Idalia challenges

During a prayer vigil Sunday, Aug. 27, 2023, at St. Paul AME Church, Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan, emotion filling her voice, took responsibility as mayor and apologized for not being able to prevent the Aug. 26, 2023 racially motivated slaying of three Black people by a white man at a Dollar General store near Edward Waters University.

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Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan addresses the audience at the Aug. 27, 2023 prayer vigil in honor of the victims of the Dollar General mass murder and calls for change.

Bob Self/Florida Times-Union

Sheriff T.K. Waters greets Governor Ron DeSantis as Mayor Donna Deegan greets Casey DeSantis as they arrive for the Aug. 27, 2023 prayer vigil for the Dollar General shooting victims.

Bob Self/Florida Times-Union

Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan listens to speakers during Sunday, Aug. 27, 2023 prayer vigil for the Dollar General shooting victims. This went on as Crime scene investigators continued to gather evidence at the Dollar General store on Kings Road in Jacksonville the day after the Aug. 26, 2023 mass shooting. A White individual shot and killed African-American patrons inside the store then took his own life using an AR-15 style rifle with swastikas and other white nationalist markings on it.

Bob Self/Florida Times-Union

On Aug. 27, 2023, Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan reaches across Sheriff T.K. Waters to take council member Ju’Coby Pittman’s hand after Pittman’s emotional appeal for help for the citizens of her district during Sunday evening’s prayer vigil for victims of Aug. 26, 2023 mass shooting at the Dollar General store on Kings Avenue.

Bob Self/Florida Times-Union

Mayor Donna Deegan, at center, is flanked by Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department Director Keith Powers and Andre Ayoub, chief of the emergency preparedness division, during a meeting of local leaders about preparing for Hurricane Idalia.

Provided By City Of Jacksonville

Mayor Donna Deegan speaks at a press conference at the Emergency Operations Center Monday, Aug. 28, 2023 in downtown Jacksonville, Fla. A state of emergency has been declared as tropical system Idalia nears the state of Florida panhandle region. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]

Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union