LAWRENCE — Family of the employee shot and killed at the Dollar Tree in Lawrence say the 25-year-old wasn't even supposed to work on Monday.
True to her nature, Jasmine Bennett was filling in for someone else's shift, her mother, Dina Ford told WRTV.
“She wasn't even supposed to work that day, but she was scared the store wouldn't open on time because of somebody else," Ford said. "She just wanted to make sure the store would open... so she went in."
Jasmine Bennett was shot and killed while working at the Dollar Tree. Police have arrested a 21-year-old former employee of the store in her death.
"She was my best friend. We did everything together. We ate together, we joked around together,” Ford said. "She's been everywhere with me and now, she's not there. I had to go home and it's just an empty house.”
Ford remembers her daughter as “full of spirit” and someone who would do anything to make someone else smile.
Jasmine’s siblings remember her as the baby of the family, who was always putting others before herself.
"Jasmine was the light of the room. She was very loving, caring and giving and always thought of you first,” Michael Bennett said. "It's messed up that the world didn't get to see that. That it was taken away from us."
Michael Bennett said his sister loved attending concerts and making sure everyone she was with had a good time.
"She would literally buy the whole group tickets and wouldn't even ask for the money," Bennett said. "She just wanted you to be there."
"She wasn't even supposed to be at work that day. She went in to cover someone else's shift,” Michael Bennett said. "There is no answer for something like this. There's no words you can come up with to describe the way you feel when this type of stuff happens. Losing someone like that it’s going to be a detrimental thing in all of our lives. We lost something precious to us. It’s hard for me to accept that she’s gone."
A former employee has been arrested in connection with the shooting.
The 21-year-old, whose name WRTV will not release until formal charges have been filed, has been preliminarily charged with murder.
