Jacksonville police search for gunman after cars shot up in Riverside

Neighbors on edge after damage, shattered glass left in wake of gunfire

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Riverside neighbors are on edge Tuesday after someone shot up about eight vehicles early in the morning, leaving a wake of shattered glass and damage.

Neighbors on College Street told police they heard gunfire about 5:30 a.m. Tuesday. Cars between King and James streets were damaged, and neighbors said bullets barely missed some homes.

All of the damaged cars were parked within feet of each other on the same side of the street.

They told News4Jax they are hopeful bullets recovered by police can help them track down whoever fired the shots. 

Some neighbors said they saw and heard a car driving eastbound on College Street around the time of the gunfire, but it was too dark to get a description of the car for police.

Bullet holes could be seen Tuesday morning in the driver's side door of a truck and in other vehicles as neighbors were out sweeping up shattered glass around their cars.

"I didn’t see anything. My roommate woke me up about 6 in the morning on her way to work and said, 'Come out and take a look at your car. It looks like a window was broken.' Her car was struck by some bullets. She said she heard some stuff, so I came out and the window was smashed in pretty good and I have a couple of souvenirs in my car," said one man, who asked not to be identified.

Residents told News4Jax they heard at least 10 shots.

Rebecca Campbell, who said she awoke to the gunfire and then found a bullet hole in her husband's truck, said she doesn't want her two daughters living through something like that again, so she plans to move.

“I have two small children, so this is really scary for me,” Campbell said. “I laid my head down last night thinking of the people that were shot in a church just a few days ago. That was on my mind and then to be woken up from my sleep to the sound -- the sound is really scary.”

She said it's a sad reminder of the violence plaguing the United States.

“I am an overly cautious person, but this day and age in America, so many people have guns,” Campbell said. “You can get shot anywhere. You can get shot at church. You can get shot in the movie theater, get shot at a concert, get shot walking down the street – anywhere.”

One house in the area has surveillance cameras, but a man who lives at the home said the cameras haven’t been working since Hurricane Irma. 

Anyone with information about the gunfire is asked to call police at 904-630-0500 or CrimeStoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS.