JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – After a mother and daughter survive the harrowing experience of bullets tearing through their Waterbrook Falls home, the two men battling it out to be Jacksonville's next sheriff share their thoughts on what needs to be done.
Police told Jeanine Herrington that they believe her home was shot up due to gang activity, and both candidates refuse to allow Jacksonville to continue to be the center of such crime.
"Once I started seeing the holes, it registered that somebody was shooting," Herrington said.
Her 3-year-old was sitting right outside of the bathroom with Herrington in the shower inches away from flying bullets.
Ken Jefferson and Mike Williams both say that they are looking for solutions to cut down on violent crime such as this, and both men agree that means reconnecting with the community.
Williams said that connection comes from knocking on doors to drive down crime, a tactic he used last year.
"You got to continue to build the strength and relationships with every part of the community," Williams said. "We knocked on several thousand doors in those neighborhoods and said, "Hey, this is why we're here. You know about those shootings, and we need your help." And we got tons of tips from the community. And solved a lot of crime and drove crime down in that area," Williams said.
Jefferson spent time in Herrington's neighborhood Wednesday and said he was there just two weeks ago.
"Sometimes officers, generally, when they have downtime, don't just come out in the neighborhoods and interact. We want to change that," Jefferson said. "We have to interact with the public. We have to get the officers out of their cars to interact with the public and re-introduce themselves."
Herrington still has questions for the two men hoping to make her neighborhood and city a better place but realizes the community has to play their part too.
"I know right now there's a lot of tension between the community and the heriff's Office but I think we as citizens have to realize that we have to do our part," Harrington said.