Police: 3 injured in Northwest Jacksonville shooting

Councilman works to curb violence by creating task force, placing shot spotters

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Police are investigating the shootings of three people Tuesday afternoon in Northwest Jacksonville near Washington Heights Apartments.

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said a man, a woman and a third person were shot on Bailey Court. 

Police said they found the man and woman with gunshot wounds near Kinlock Drive. They were taken to UF Health Jacksonville with non-life-threatening injuries.

The third person with a gunshot wound walked into Fire Station 36 on Lippia Drive. That person was also hospitalized with a non-life-threatening injury.

WATCH: JSO briefing on Northwest Jacksonville shootings

Initially, police said, they believed the fire station walk-in had been involved a shooting separate from the double shooting. Investigators announced the next day that all three were injured in the same shooting.

No names have been released. The Sheriff's Office continues to investigate. 

Violence in Northwest Jacksonville causes serious concerns for residents, city leaders

Tuesday's shooting happened less than 24 hours after city leaders expressed anger over Sunday's mass shooting in Northwest Jacksonville that left an 18-year-old woman, a young mother and an 11-month-old boy dead.

Residents told News4Jax that the last 72 hours in Northwest Jacksonville have been violent and heartbreaking, causing them to be extremely concerned. 

News4Jax crime and safety analyst Gil Smith said people need to speak up and share any information that they might have to help police solve the shootings and cut down on crime. 

"A lot of people are saying the Sheriff's Office needs to do something. Of course, the police department needs to be involved, but they cannot clean it up alone. It really does take community involvement on some level," Smith said. "Quite often, people talking about a shooting either before of after. A conflict between two people that has been going on for a while can provide that information. It's not always information as to who exactly did it, but the relationship between the shooter and the person that was killed."

Jacksonville City Councilman Reggie Brown, who has demanded that the violence stop, said he thinks people are hearing his anti-violence message, but he doesn't think it's sinking in. 

"We're not going to be handcuffed by individuals that don't want to abide by the law," Brown said. 

Brown said he believes that the people committing these crimes are not thinking about the consequences. 

"We're going to have to create peace. Understanding conflict resolution is a big deal. Folks have to be able to come together," Brown said. "Even when you have differences, violence is not the answer."

Brown is now working to deal with the violence in the area that he represents by forming a task force to bridge the gap between residents and JSO. 

"We talked about developing community ambassadors, running them through our Jacksonville Journey program to get folks involved in the community so they can be the eyes and ears to help build that relationship between JSO and the community," he said. 

Another step in dealing with the violence in Northwest Jacksonville, Brown said, will be implementing a pilot program of placing shot spotters -- a technology used to pick up the sound of gunfire -- in high crime areas.

"When folks can rest assured when they hear a shot fired in their community that there will be an appropriate response time from JSO," Brown said. "Right now, a neighbor calls and says, 'Hey, I heard a shooting in my community.' Right now, JSO has to ride around and has to ask folks. When we deploy that system, they will know exactly where to go."

Brown said the pilot program is estimated to cost $400,000 and if it is successful, they will put more shot spotters throughout the city. 

Anyone with information about the shootings is asked to anonymously call Crime Stoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS.

I-TEAM: Most Duval County shootings occur in 32209 ZIP code

The News4Jax I-TEAM put in a Freedom of Information Act request with JSO to find out where the most shootings are happening in Duval County.

The data obtained by the I-TEAM revealed that the area where Sunday's mass shooting and Tuesday's two shootings both occurred in the 32209 ZIP code -- the area in the county with the highest number of shootings. 

According to the new data, 125 people -- including 12 teenagers -- were shot in that ZIP code last year and 60 people -- including eight young victims-- have been shot so far this year.

In comparison, the data reveals that the ZIP code with the second highest number of shootings is 32208, which is right next door. 

Last year, 55 people were shot in that ZIP code. So far this year, there have been 31 shootings there. 

The third-highest number of shootings happened in ZIP code 32254, which is on Jacksonville's Westside. 

In that ZIP code, 55 people were shot last year and 26 have been shot there this year. 

The data also shows that there are only two ZIP codes that only had one shooting last year. One was 32220, which covers the Whitehouse neighborhood on the far Westside, and the other was 32221, which covers another large portion of the Westside, just south of Interstate 10 and west of Cecil Commerce Parkway.

However, both 32220 and 32221 have already had two shootings this year. 


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