ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – A woman killed Friday night in a double shooting at a Ponte Vedra Walgreens has been identified as a mother of two who recently became a grandmother “barely a year ago,” according to a GoFundMe campaign created by the woman’s brother.
Jeremy Hackward wrote on the fundraiser page that his only sister, Melissa, “was gunned down” on Friday night, and now he, his mother and his sister’s children are left grieving her sudden loss.
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Police have said that Christian Barrios, 32, the man identified by investigators as the shooter at the Walgreens on Friday, went to the Walgreens along A1A on Friday night to confront his girlfriend and a man he believed she was in a relationship with.
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Hackward called Barrios “an insecure, jealous ex-boyfriend.”
The arrest report said Barrios “immediately and frantically jumped out of their car and began walking” toward the woman and the man before multiple gunshots were heard.
According to law enforcement, Barrios stole a BMW and attempted to evade law enforcement before being caught in Nassau County.
WATCH: Barrios’ capture in Nassau County caught on bodycam video
“Melissa was such an amazing, outgoing, generous, and compassionate person. She never judged anyone and would help a stranger even if she wasn’t in a place to do so herself,” Hackward wrote on the GoFundMe page. “She’d do just about anything to help you out—that’s the kind of person she was."
Hackward said any proceeds from the GoFundMe will go to help cover funeral arrangements and financial obligations, “so they don’t become a burden or headache for someone else. Knowing Melissa, that’s definitely not something she’d want to put on anybody.”
He said the family hopes, with the community’s support, to be able to pay it forward in Melissa’s honor “to help those who really need it, just as she always did, and make a genuine change in their lives.”