JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – An 18-year-old has been arrested in a deadly shooting last month at a Westside mobile home park, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office announced Tuesday.
Javon Fudge is accused of killing Lorenzo Thomas, 21, in an armed robbery on Aug. 23 at the Deerpointe Mobile Home Park on 103rd Street. A teen was also injured in the shooting, but his name is not being released because a second shooter is still at large, police said.
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Police were called to the mobile home park after reports of gunfire and found Thomas and the other victim, who were taken to the hospital. Thomas died about six hours later, according to JSO Homicide Lt. Steve Gallaher.
Fudge is charged with one count of second-degree murder. Gallaher said other charges of aggravated battery and armed robbery are likely to be added.
"We should always have concern when there are individuals out there with guns who will shoot at people in trailer parks, but I do believe it was isolated toward this one group," Gallaher said.
Gallaher said Fudge and Thomas had previously done drug deals together, but a few weeks before the shooting, Fudge robbed Thomas of $90 worth of marijuana at gunpoint. The robbery was not reported to police.
Thomas wanted to fight Fudge over the robbery, and the two arranged to meet at the mobile home park the night of the shooting, Gallaher said.
Fudge and the second shooter confronted Thomas and the second victim and Fudge pulled a handgun and shot at Thomas, hitting him twice. After Thomas dropped to the ground from the gunshot wounds, Fudge rifled through his pockets, while the second shooter kept firing at the other victim, who fled on foot, Gallaher said.
The second victim was wounded in his upper body and his arm, but made it to the corner of a trailer, where he pulled his gun and shot back at Fudge and the other shooter. He missed and they both fled the scene.
When police arrived, Thomas and the other victim identified Fudge as the shooter. The second victim later picked Fudge out in a photo spread.
Fudge was interviewed by detectives and at first denied his involvement, but when confronted with inconsistencies in his story, he eventually admitted to being involved in the shootout.
The second shooter is described as a black man in his early 20s, about 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighing 170 pounds, with long dreadlocks and a beard.
Anyone with information on the identity or location of the second shooter is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS.