Balloon release for teens killed

No arrests made in connection to August drive-by shooting that killed 2 teens

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – It's been more than a month now since two teenage girls were shot and killed in a drive-by shooting while they were asleep inside a home in Northwest Jacksonville. Still, no one has been arrested.

That's why friends and family of Jazmine Shelton and Megan Simmons will gather Wednesday night for a special event to keep this case in the public eye until someone is held accountable.

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A family friend worked hard organizing a balloon release at Lake Shore Middle School for Wednesday evening.

The organizer said someone went to the School Board and then the principal and complained that releasing balloons is illegal and harms the environment.

Channel 4 was told the event will still go on and everyone is still encouraged to come, only they'll just release 10 balloons, the legal amount, instead of having everyone join in.

"I think it's very senseless someone knows something and they need to talk," said Laura Ferguson, family friend and organizer of the balloon release.

Ferguson said somebody knows something more about what happened the night best friends 13-year-old Jazmine Shelton and 14-year-old Megan Simmons were shot and killed while sleeping inside this mobile home on Missouri Avenue.

Six weeks later and their families are grieving, still struggling with the fact that no one's been arrested for it.

"They're not doing very well they need answers, both families need answers," said Ferguson.

That's why Ferguson took it upon herself to organize another event to honor the two young girls.

Ferguson had planned a balloon release Wednesday. She said several of the girls' classmates wanted to pay tribute to them so they arranged for it to be at Lake Shore Middle School, where Simmons was a student and where Shelton was about to begin sixth grade.

"It's been pretty easy actually, the principal cooperated with us because she had Megan there for a few years and Jasmine, she had already met Jasmine in a summer program I think after school so it was really important to her as well," said Ferguson.

Ferguson said although there's been a setback in the plans because of that complaint, nothing will stop her from trying to bring some comfort to the girls' families.

"I've become very close to Megan's family, they're very close to my heart and i want to help them," said Ferguson.

The event is at 6:30 p.m. at Lake Shore Middle. Everyone is invited to be there, they just ask that you don't bring your own balloons anymore as they'll only be releasing 10 into the sky.