JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The community gathered to support and raise money for a JSO Officer who was shot in the line of duty. Officer Malik Daricaud is still recovering after sources told Action News Jax he was shot in the neck in March.
The fundraiser was held by Signal 34 Foundation; the organizer told Action News Jax they raised roughly $15,000 for the family.
Daricaud wasn’t able to be there, but his wife, Jasmine Faison, said he wished he could have been. Faison said there are still times when he’s in pain, so it would’ve been difficult. Instead, she had him on Facetime during the event so everybody could see how he was doing.
Faison said he’s making progress day by day.
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“He’s working on getting back to where he was, he’s feeding himself, brushing his teeth by himself, not quite holding a spoon yet but he can feed cookies to himself,” she said.
The unit he’s in was following up on a traffic stop investigation. Officers got in contact with the suspect’s mother, who opened the door since they didn’t have a search warrant. When she did, police said Tyliko Maduro started shooting at officers and Daricaud was struck.
Faison got a call from the hospital a short time later.
“Got a call at 5:32 in the morning from Shands so I guessed it wasn’t good, it was scary but grateful they called he’s in hospital and not he passed away,” she said.
Faison sent Action News Jax a recent photo of Daricaud with their son, Malachi; the two can be seen smiling. Faison said he’s been staying strong for their family.
“He’s giving his best in physical therapy and that’s all I can ask for,” she said.
Faison said they understand the risk with the job and try not to think about being in these types of situations.
“When he leaves for work and when I work, we have something nice to say to each other, those could always be the last words you say,” Faison said. “If something does happen, the last words are something that won’t haunt us forever.”
Moving forward for the both of them, she wants Daricaud to be safe and because of all the support their family has gotten, she wants to give back.
“Whatever I do in the future, I would like to be that support for someone else,” she said.
Faison said they’re optimistic for the future, but they haven’t been given an official discharge date yet from the rehab center.
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