JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 A Southside family is in mourning following a late-night shooting at a local gas station that claimed the life of 36-year-old Omar Padilla. His family is struggling to imagine a future without the man they describe as their \u201csafety net.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office (JSO) responded to reports of gunfire late Wednesday night at a Circle K on Southside Boulevard. Upon arrival, officers discovered Padilla unresponsive in the parking lot. Despite being rushed to a nearby hospital, he later succumbed to his injuries. <\/p>\n
JSO detectives have since arrested 22-year-old Mai-Kel Bryant, a store clerk at the location. Bryant faces charges of murder and tampering with evidence. <\/p>\n
READ:<\/b> Two shootings at two Southside gas stations, one clerk shot, another clerk facing murder charge<\/a><\/p>\n For Padilla\u2019s oldest son, who shares his father\u2019s name, the loss is a staggering blow. <\/p>\n \u201cEvery day when we wake up, we can\u2019t see that smile or hear that music playing or have that motivation to get up,\u201d Padilla\u2019s son said. While the family declined an on-camera interview, they spoke of a man who served as a mentor in their lives. <\/b> <\/p>\n \u201cI just know it\u2019s going to be insanely hard,\u201d his son continued. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be the most difficult thing I\u2019ve ever experienced. I couldn\u2019t imagine why someone would just shoot him over anything.\u201d <\/p>\n Beyond his role as a provider, Padilla is remembered for the values he instilled in his children. His son noted that his father\u2019s lessons centered on character and integrity. <\/p>\n \u201cHe always taught me how I should be a respectful young man and how I should carry myself, because that\u2019s the most important thing\u2014respect,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n His son stated he is now focused on seeking justice for his father, whose life was taken too soon. <\/p>\n “<\/b> In the simplest way, he took my father. But in the more complicated way, he took my leader. He took my provider. He took practically everything away from me and my family. So I really do hope that he gets the justice he deserves. And I hope that he is found guilty on the charges,\u201d said his son <\/p>\n The family will hold a candlelight vigil Friday night at 9:00 p.m. at the scene of the shooting to honor Padilla\u2019s memory. A GoFundMe page<\/a> has been established to assist the family with funeral expenses and support for his children. <\/p>\n >>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: <\/b>Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/b><\/a>]<\/b><\/p>\n [SIGN UP: <\/b>Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/b><\/a>] <\/b><\/p>\n Click here<\/b><\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, <\/b>click here<\/b><\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and <\/b>click here<\/b><\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/b><\/p>\n Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 A Southside family is in mourning following a late-night shooting at a local gas station…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":740829,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5136],"tags":[12189,15619,5229,12877,3188,723,12507,11561,7310,305578,11545,214052,155630,8423,425,305579,304729,5206,8717,11528,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-740828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-action_news","tag-action_news_jack","tag-america","tag-circle_k","tag-fl","tag-florida","tag-gofundme","tag-jack","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonvilles_south_side","tag-jessica","tag-jessica_salina","tag-jessica_salinas","tag-jso","tag-local","tag-michael_bryant","tag-omar_padilla","tag-padilla","tag-side","tag-south_side_boulevard","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116437018814161850","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=740828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/740829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=740828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=740828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=740828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}