Community concerned over double shooting in St. Augustine

2 people shot, 1 person airlifted with blunt force trauma injury

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – Police continue searching for the suspects responsible for shooting two people and assaulting a third outside a St. Augustine restaurant and bar early Sunday morning.

The shooting happened just after 2 a.m. in a parking lot outside of Johnny's on North Ponce de Leon Boulevard, just north of State Road 16.

An employee who works near Johnny’s said lately there have been numerous shootings near her workplace and home. She’s concerned that this is the new trend.

“It’s just weird because usually there’s nothing like that going on here. It’s a really safe community, except lately, it’s getting kind of scary,” said Sydne Leavitt, who works at a cafe nearby.

Just down the street from the cafe is Johnny’s, where police said two men were shot and a third man was badly beaten up in a parking lot early Sunday morning.

Investigators said a crowd of about 300 people were outside after the club closed around 2 a.m. when the shooting began.

Leavitt said she’s never seen any problems at Johnny’s, it’s usually a low-key place to hang out and that it is all part of the string of violence the community has seen in the past month.

“I don’t even like to leave my house at night because, I mean, there was a shooting one street over and there was a shooting a few houses down and it’s just crazy. It’s like you don’t even want to be out in the dark almost,” she said.

The St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office said recent cases of shootings and murders have citizens on edge, but it doesn’t directly point to an increase in crime.

“Every six months we evaluate crime trends in St. Johns County, and at this juncture we know that crime hasn’t necessarily changed, but we have in the last three weeks seen a spike in regards to violent crime,” said St. Johns County Sheriff's Commander Chuck Mulligan.

Leavitt said she’s hoping everything calms down and that St. Augustine goes back to being the serene, quaint beach town that it is. 

“As far as I’ve known, there’s never been anything going on like this here, so I would say it’s the worst it’s been,” Leavitt said.

News4Jax has reached out to Johnny’s management, but they didn’t want to comment.

The St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office is helping with the investigation. Anyone with information on the suspects is asked to call police.