ORANGE PARK, Fla. \u2014 A large crowd gathered at a Winn-Dixie in Orange Park, a place once tied to tragedy, now transformed into a space for remembrance. Former coworkers of Billy Foster came together with balloons and candles to celebrate his life, sharing memories, laughter, and the lasting impact he left behind.<\/p>\n
The vigil was held at the same Winn-Dixie where Foster arrived after being stabbed just days earlier. On this night, it became a place of reflection, led by the people who once worked alongside him.<\/p>\n
Many of those who attended were Foster\u2019s former coworkers, who said his joy, kindness, and work ethic defined who he was.<\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe both worked at Burger King together; he was a young manager,\u201d former coworker Diann Ames said.<\/p>\n \u201cThen he was a manager, and then next thing it was just me and him showing up at night shift,\u201d former coworker Paul Winkler said.<\/p>\n Another former coworker added, \u201cI worked with Billy, he was my manager.\u201d<\/p>\n Those who gathered said the people present represent just a small number of lives Foster impacted. Seven former coworkers said they only knew him for a short time, but the influence he had on their lives will stay with them.<\/p>\n \u201cBilly was a standup type of guy and I love him to death,\u201d former coworker Kamall Moore said.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd he would come knowing he ain\u2019t supposed to be there and be like I\u2019m gonna come down and help you real quick,\u201d former coworker Razina Goodman said.<\/p>\n Another coworker recalled, \u201che would just smile no matter what he was going through.\u201d<\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n According to the Clay County Sheriff\u2019s Office, Foster was killed in a stabbing on February 2 in the parking lot of the Cypress Point Apartments in Middleburg. Deputies say he was involved in a fight with Charles Franklin Jones Jr., who has since been arrested and charged with Foster\u2019s murder.<\/p>\n Investigators believe the two planned to meet days in advance and are still working to determine what led to the fight.<\/p>\n Deputies said Foster was stabbed multiple times, managed to escape, and drove himself to the nearby Winn-Dixie, where he was later taken to the hospital and died.<\/p>\n Jones is facing charges including second-degree murder, tampering with evidence, depriving a victim of access to 911, and knowingly driving with a suspended license.<\/p>\n For Foster\u2019s coworkers, the loss is deeply personal.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re definitely gonna miss him. I mean all of us have worked with him. All of us have been around him; all of us love him. I mean, it\u2019s just unbelievable that something like this would happen to him,\u201d Ames said.<\/p>\n Jones is being held in the Clay County Jail without bond and is expected to appear in court on March 3rd.<\/p>\n [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORANGE PARK, Fla. \u2014 A large crowd gathered at a Winn-Dixie in Orange Park, a place once tied…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147711,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[344,71417,347,71418,28,348,116,351,118,117,71419,349,350,346,345],"class_list":{"0":"post-147710","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-action-news-jax","9":"tag-billy-foster","10":"tag-cbs47","11":"tag-clay-stabbing","12":"tag-florida","13":"tag-fox30","14":"tag-jacksonville","15":"tag-jacksonville-fl","16":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","17":"tag-jacksonville-news","18":"tag-middleburg-stabbing","19":"tag-northeast-florida","20":"tag-southeast-georgia","21":"tag-wfox","22":"tag-wjax"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147710\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}