JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Several Westside homes, including a child's bedroom, were riddled with bullet holes when two men got into a shootout late Thursday morning, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said.
Shots were exchanged between a pedestrian and someone in a Jeep at the intersection of Blanding Boulevard and Longchamp Drive in the Duclay neighborhood, according to police.
Investigators said the driver of the Jeep started talking to two men walking down the street and confronted them about money. The driver said one of the men shot at him and he returned fire.
Everyone left the scene and then the driver of the Jeep called police to tell them what happened. Police said everybody involved knows each other.
One man later walked into St. Vincent's Hospital with a gunshot wound believed connected to the shooting, police said. The man was expected to be OK.
At least three houses in the Duclay neighborhood were hit by gunfire.
In one home, a bullet hole could be seen through the wall of a child's bedroom. In the same room, there was also a bullet hole in the girl's doll house. Family members said they're thankful the girl wasn't in the room at the time.
Residents said they immediately took cover when they heard the gunfire, and they're lucky to be alive. Ariel Garrett told News4Jax all she could do was drop to the floor when she heard bullets hitting her house.
"To hear bullets and you don't know if it's going to hit you or your kids, yeah, it's shocking," Garrett said.
Thankfully, Garrett said, her family is OK.
Another woman said her family was terrified when bullets started hitting their house, but no one was hurt.
"I didn't know where the bullets were coming from," one resident of the home told News4Jax.
A Sheriff's Office helicopter and K-9 officers responded to help in the search for the gunman.
According to the JSO crime map, in the last month, there were only three crimes reported within a half-mile of where the shootout happened.