Residents want to stop neighborhood violence

Pastor organizes meeting to discuss how to change violent crime trend

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – After two homicides this year in the Eureka Gardens apartments -- both involving 15-year-olds -- a local church that was instrumental in combating crime years ago is stepping back up.

In 2007, there were nine homicides at the Eureka Gardens apartments, but after efforts by local advocates, there hadn't been any since 2011 -- until this year.

Pastor Mark Griffin of Wayman Ministries organized a meeting of residents from the apartment complex Thursday night to talk about how to curb the return of violence to the neighborhood.

"We actually are concerned about where we're living," said Leon Solomon. "And it's not just 'Eureka Gardens is a bad place to live.' It really is a good place to be. It's just certain people make it worse."

Crystal Stokes said she thinks crime will improve now that residents are talking about it.

"I think it's actually going to go down a little bit, because I think a lot of people are actually starting to pay attention to what their surroundings are," Stokes said. "And I don't think they're going to like escalate on it more than it already is."

Felicia Grant is raising two kids in the complex, and she said she's frustrated and sometimes afraid after two murders at Eureka Gardens this year -- both involving 15-year-old boys. In one case the 15-year-old is a suspect; earlier this week a 15-year-old was killed.

"There's a lot of things going on and people are afraid for their lives," Grant said. "It starts with one person to help build and change a community."

Griffin has made it his church's mission for seven years to help stop the violence. He said for several years it seemed to be improving, and he's afraid they got complacent. Now crime seems to have crept back in.

Griffin said he hopes the meeting will help reinvigorate the community.

"If we're not careful, the gains we've worked so hard for in the last seven years, they can all be lost in just a matter of months," Griffin said.

Now Griffin's church, Wayman Ministries, along with area residents, will develop an action plan to combat the problems. Some of the tactics that seemed to work in 2007 included increasing lighting in the area, working with the Chamber of Commerce to help find more residents jobs and instituting a gun buyback program to help keep guns out of the wrong hands.

News4Jax crime and safety analyst Gil Smith said meetings like Griffin's are vital if crime becomes a problem in a neighborhood.

"He did this seven years ago, and the crime rate did go down," Smith said. "Part of the problem is, in an apartment complex, it's transient. That's any complex anywhere."
Smith said even if some residents are afraid to speak up, that doesn't mean the crime problems can't be solved.

"The best thing they can do is remain anonymous, if they don't want to come to the meeting," Smith said. "They can still get in touch with the community leaders, like Pastor Griffin, and let him know through mail or email. And let him know what the problems are."

Smith said Crime Stoppers is another anonymous way to report crime. He said if you want to remain anonymous, police won't even take your name so you can't be subpoenaed if there's an arrest based on your tip.

The number for Crimes Stoppers is 1-866-845-TIPS. 


About the Author:

Scott is a multi-Emmy Award Winning Anchor and Reporter, who also hosts the “Going Ringside With The Local Station” Podcast. Scott has been a journalist for 25 years, covering stories including six presidential elections, multiple space shuttle launches and dozens of high-profile murder trials.