YULEE, Fla. – Wearing a light-blue hooded sweatshirt, Fred Young’s wife snapped a picture of the handwritten sign that stopped her in her tracks.
"Baby, we gotta go up to the next exit. You can't even go in there,” he yelled out.
On the front door of the Shell station at 852396 U.S. 17 in Yulee was a message from management: “Please remove your hoodie before entering this store.”
"That’s unfathomable. It's like, why would they even put that up. It’s America for God’s sake,” Young said.
The sign has customers like the Youngs wondering if it’s in reference to the hoodie hoopla that surrounded the death of Trayvon Martin back in February. While wearing a hoodie, Martin was shot in Sanford by neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman.
Zimmerman says he shot in self defense.
While some are calling the gas station sign controversial, others see it as a form of protection to prevent potential criminals from hiding their identity with a hood.
"I think it's not right, but at the same time I understand why they're doing it,” said Yajaira Rodriguez.
We wanted to understand too but when we walked inside a clerk told us the station manager wasn’t there. After refusing to give us the manager’s cell phone number, we left our information. But as of Tuesday night, we still have not heard back.
In the meantime, the Young family gassed up and left in search of another station -- preferably, one without a "Hoodie, No Service” sign.
"If I want to wear a hoodie, I should be able to wear whatever I want,” said Young.
When Action News returned to the gas station later Tuesday night, the sign was no longer on the door.
