Family, boy shot in head try to find normalcy

5-year-old grazed in head by bullet Tuesday night

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Due to the quick actions of his family, 5-year-old Joshua Griffin is now recovering after someone fired a pellet into a Northwest Jacksonville home he was in. The slug grazed his head, but he wasn't seriously injured.

"Geniesha grabbed Joshua and threw him on the floor, and we seen blood come out the back of his head," Joshua's aunt, Cordelia Washington, said Thursday.

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Family members said rescuers rushed the boy to Shands Jacksonville Medical Center on Tuesday night. He was released several hours later.

"Joshua's doing OK. He keeps waking up and telling me, 'Auntie, they shot me,'" Washington said.

After a night of violence, Joshua and his family are trying to find some sense of normalcy.

"He's good, happy, smiling, playing around, Simeon Middleton, a family friend, said of the 5-year-old.

Donald Foy, of MAD DADS, says the community cannot tolerate gunfire in neighborhoods.

"Whoever the individual was, they need to be removed from the streets of Jacksonville," Foy said. "No regard for human life, no regard for this young man."

The neighborhood surrounding Danville Avenue, the site of Tuesday's shooting, has raised generations, but with violence and crime on the rise, leaving may be the only solution for Joshua's family.

"I'm going to change my kids' school and I'm just moving and leaving," Washington said.

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office is still investigating the shooting and is asking for the public's help in finding the shooter. Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 866-845-TIPS.