15-year-old boy shot at Westside apartments, dies

Victim was student at Ribault High School

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A 15-year-old boy died after being shot in the back several times behind a Westside apartment building Monday night, according to Jacksonville police.

Officers responding to a call of shots fired at Eureka Garden Apartments off Labelle Street about 10:15 p.m. found Damantrae Franklin (pictured) behind building No. 10 with multiple gunshot wounds in his back. He was taken to UF Health Jacksonville, where he died.

Damantrae Franklin

"I went to the hospital. I just lost it," said the victim's grandmother, Rosezina Dib.

Officers said several witnesses reported hearing shots, but no one saw much of anything, so they don't have any word on a possible suspect or suspects at this time.

Police said Franklin lived about eight miles away on Doncaster Avenue. He attended Ribault High School.

"He was funny. He played in a band. He liked to play football, liked to joke around and stuff," Dib said.

This was the second homicide in Eureka Gardens this year and the 17th since 2007.

People who live in the area are frightened.

"We got to leave. We got to go somewhere," Dallas Bowden said. "Anywhere's better than Eureka Gardens."

News4Jax crime and safety analyst Gil Smith said the apartment complex is violence-prone because there are lots of dead ends and places to hide.

"In fact, last night there were a couple of off-duty police officers working here when the shooting occurred, so, of course, police can't be everywhere," Smith said.

Anyone with any information about the killing is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 866-845-TIPS. Callers can remain anonymous and could be eligible for a reward up to $3,000.

The homicide at Eureka Garden Apartments was the second this year. The first was in March. There have been 17 homicides there since 2007.

That year the apartment complex had the designation as the most violent one in Jacksonville because there were nine homicides there.

After that, Wayman Ministries began an aggressive community outreach program, and the violence subsided.

But it has not gone away altogether. There were no homicides at the complex in 2008, two in 2009, three in 2010, one in 2011 and none in 2012 or 2013.