{"id":285370,"date":"2026-05-26T23:14:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T23:14:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/285370\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T23:14:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T23:14:07","slug":"i-miss-him-every-day-mom-of-teen-killed-at-burger-king-reflects-on-honoring-sons-memory-after-his-graduation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/285370\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I miss him every day\u2019: Mom of teen killed at Burger King reflects on honoring son\u2019s memory after his graduation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Natasha Jackson walked across the stage at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena on Wednesday in place of her son, two days before the six-month mark of her son\u2019s death. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Friday marked six months since 18-year-old Matthew Jackson was shot and killed while breaking up a fight at a westside Burger King restaurant where he worked. His mother walked in his place during Riverside High School\u2019s graduation ceremony, determined to honor his memory.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cIt was gratefulness, and also just the impact of it to see how many hearts that he\u2019s touched, how many people that he influenced,\u201d his mother told News4JAX on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news4jax.com\/news\/local\/2026\/05\/23\/celebrating-from-a-higher-place-mother-of-senior-fatally-shot-at-westside-burger-king-accepts-his-high-school-diploma\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.news4jax.com\/news\/local\/2026\/05\/23\/celebrating-from-a-higher-place-mother-of-senior-fatally-shot-at-westside-burger-king-accepts-his-high-school-diploma\/\">\u2018Celebrating from a higher place\u2019: Mother of senior fatally shot at Westside Burger King accepts his high school diploma<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Natasha also walked alongside Matthew\u2019s twin, Madison Jackson. She described the moment the crowd reacted to her crossing the stage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cWhen I got up and walked across the stage, just the standing ovation and to hear the hollers, the love, the claps, the yells and screams and saying his name, it was everything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Despite grieving the loss of her son, Natasha said she continues to push forward.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cI miss him every day. His absence is felt every day,\u201d she said. \u201cI have my good days. I have my bad days, but I\u2019m just pushing through.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">But ultimately, it\u2019s the love for her son that keeps her motivated to keep his legacy alive. She planned to continue to work on starting a foundation in Matthew\u2019s honor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">She is working to establish a foundation in his honor and plans to partner with Silent Women Speaking for a back-to-school event this summer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office arrested Dawud Burrit in connection with Matthew\u2019s murder in November. Burrit\u2019s next pretrial hearing is set for June 16, and his trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 16.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Natasha Jackson walked across the stage at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena on Wednesday in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285371,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117,35671],"class_list":["post-285370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-matthew-jackson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285370","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=285370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}