PALATKA, Fla. – The Putnam County Sheriff's Office says it has talked to a person of interest in the shooting death of a teenager Sunday afternoon in Palatka, but the investigation is ongoing.
Deputies identified the victim as 16-year-old Terry "TJ" Monahan, who died at the home on Locust Avenue where he was shot about 5 p.m.
One neighbor said she never heard gunfire but saw Monahan's body in the backyard of his home right after he was shot.
"Helpless. You can't help," said the woman, who didn't want to be identified. "I wanted to help him so bad. After we saw the blood we just backed away."
The woman said a man came to her door asking to use the phone to call 911. He told her he'd seen Monahan staggering in the backyard.
The women said she followed the man to see what was going on, and that's when she found the body lying on the ground.
"He's just a nice, nice young man," the woman said. "I have no idea who would want to do something like that to him -- on a Sunday afternoon at daylight."
Patricia Mullins, who's lived in the area for more than 50 years, said for the most part the neighborhood is quiet, but now that this has happened, she's afraid.
"Last night was the first night that I slept with my lights on," she said. "Every noise that I heard I was up and down. Because if they haven't caught whoever did this, they're still out there."
For now authorities say no arrests have been made.
"I would love to know what happened to him. What happened to TJ?" the first woman said.
"If something was to happen to one of my children or grandchildren like that, the law better get to them before I do," Mullins said.