Expert: Southside shooting may be targeted

Police: Ponte Vedra man was with a friend when a car pulled up and opened fire

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office are working to find out who gunned down a 28-year-old passenger Sunday night in a car at a stop light on the Southside.

Officers say Christopher Vandewater, of Ponte Vedra Beach, was with a friend stopped at the intersection of San Pablo Road at William Davis Parkway just before 11 p.m. when another car pulled up alongside and someone in that car fired several shots.

Police said one of Vandewater's friend drove him to Mayo Clinic, where he was pronounced dead. 

According to official records, Vandewater had just gotten out of jail Sunday after serving nearly eight months for a 2012 conviction for conspiracy to traffic in marijuana. 

News4Jax crime and safety analyst Gil Smith said that with the random nature of the crime, and because of the area where it happened, the shooting might have had some motivation behind it.

“It's very unusual to have so much traffic here at this intersection and someone just to come alongside and just shoots inside the car, you know, without trying to rob them, without trying to carjack them or take anything from them at all, or commit any other kind of crime,” Smith said. “Which leads me to believe that the people, the victims, may have known who the shooters are and they may have been targeted for some reason.”

Neighbors in the area, including Jack O'Sullivan, were stunned to learn about the shooting and said things like this just doesn't happen in their neighborhood. 

“I was a little shocked that it was this close to the neighborhood, but I guess anything can happen at any time around here,” O’Sullivan said. 

He said he was surprised to hear that a man had been gunned down at a stoplight not too far from the house he’s lived in for nearly 20 years.

“It's a pretty quiet neighborhood, pretty quiet area. The whole area south of Beach Boulevard is pretty quiet, and this is the first time (I've heard about) anything like that, that I know of anyway,” O’Sullivan said. 

As police work to find answers in the shooting O'Sullivan said he'll feel safe no matter what police find. 

“If it's somebody is targeted it doesn't make much difference where the neighborhood is, but I'm not too concerned about it,” O’Sullivan said. 

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office at 904-630-0500 or Crime Stoppers at 866-845-TIPS.