Survivor of Dollar General shooting talks about the lingering trauma she was left with a year later

JACKSONVILLE, Florida. – “I only tell my story in the hope that it will make a difference,” Mercedez Jones said as she read from her memoir in the living room of her home.

Jones wrote this retrospective last year, describing what it was like to be involved in the traumatic tragedy of the Dollar General shooting.

It’s a day she’ll never forget. A gunman opened fire in a hate-filled attack that left three innocent people dead.

Jones was one of the survivors. She drives past the store every morning to drop her two-year-old daughter off at daycare, but says the constant commute resurfaces unwanted trauma.

“The only thing that sticks with me about that day is that you can’t get the image of the shooter out of your mind. You can’t forget him. I can still see him now,” Jones said.

RELATED: 1 year after the deadly racist attack at the Jacksonville Dollar General, the community remembers the lives lost | Memorial and ground-raising ceremony honors victims of Dollar General racist attack one year later

Just a day after the incident, which marks an anniversary of the shooting, Jones said it is still difficult to process the pain.

She was in the store with her daughter getting art supplies when the shooter came in.

“It was surreal. Not just because you had to act fast. You had to act fast. You didn’t really understand what was going on. So I acted fast. I have a daughter with me, so I didn’t have time to freeze,” Jones said.

She left all her belongings behind, grabbed her daughter and ran out of the emergency room.

“I was trapped behind Dollar General and that’s how we came into contact with the shooter, myself and three other elderly white ladies who also couldn’t jump the fence,” Jones said. “We were begging and pleading for our lives when I actually didn’t hear him say, ‘If you don’t want me to shoot you, run.’ I don’t remember. Another lady who is actually closer to him remembers him saying those words. All I know is that at the same time I knew he wasn’t shooting.”

MORE | “It felt so personal”: Mayor Deegan reflects on the racist attack on Dollar General one year later

Jones ran for her life when she heard gunshots behind her.

“I ran into the Flag Street Apartments and knocked on the door of a lady. I think her name is Mrs. Miriam. I’m so happy for her because she actually let me and my daughter in,” she said.

The interaction with the shooter is still on her mind.

You can’t get that image out of your head. They say time heals all wounds. But if you can’t understand it, it doesn’t really go away,” Jone said. “It wasn’t just psychologically traumatizing. It was devastating to think that someone would do something like that, senseless madness.”

Listen to Jones’ message to the shooter below: