Jacksonville detectives: Man killed in King Street shooting

Neighbors say multiple gunshots fired, nearby home hit by stray bullets

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A 34-year-old man was killed in a shooting Tuesday afternoon in the Mixon Town neighborhood on the city's Westside, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said.

Officers were called just before 3 p.m. to a person shot in a vacant lot on King Street, just north of Interstate 10.

When they arrived, police found a man in who had been shot multiple times. The man was taken to UF Health, where he died. Police later identified him as Brielle Baldwin.

As homicide detectives responded to canvass the area and look for witnesses, countless evidence markers could be seen in the vacant lot. 

"We were sitting in the car and we heard multiple gunshots," said one neighbor, who did not wish to be identified. "Just one after the other."

Several residents told News4Jax that they heard as many as 30 shots fired.

“I told my wife to hit the ground. I hit the ground because it was a lot of shots,"neighbor David Stewart said. "I was just waiting to get hit."

Neighbor Tyler Acevedel said, “I heard a lot and I thought someone was firing a bunch of fireworks at once."

Members of one family said two bullets hit their nearby home, one of which went through the kitchen.

One woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said two of her four children were outside when the shooting happened.

"To know that my two oldest were here in this type of environment is very upsetting," she said.

Moments after the shooting, Isiah Williams said, he was returning to work when he found the victim in the vacant lot and called 911.

"He was bleeding. He looked like he was shot three or four times in his leg and back," Williams said. "He was facedown."

Neighbors said the man was coming back from the store and using the lot as a shortcut when he was fatally shot.

"He comes over here and we all just hang out," Stewart said. "Today was a bad day."

The mother of four added that the victim was "a good guy."

According to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office's crime mapping tool, in the past four weeks within a one mile radius of the crime, there have been:

 

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According to News4Jax records, on May 28, 2017, Bernard Smithson, 30, was found shot to death in the same lot.

The Sheriff's Office continues to investigate Tuesday's shooting death. Anyone with information is asked to call JSO at 904-630-0500. To remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS (8477).


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