FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. – A man was shot multiple times Sunday morning while walking home from the Flash Foods convenience store at Jasmine and 13th streets, Fernandina Beach police said.
The shooting was reported just before 1 a.m. in front of the Barnabas Plaza parking lot.
Fernandina Beach police said Ernest Roberts Jr. was airlifted to UF Health in Jacksonville after being shot on the sidewalk behind the Flash Foods and Moon River Pizza plaza.
Roberts’ wife, Michelle, told News4Jax he was shot in his stomach, back and hip. Michelle Roberts said her husband underwent his second surgery Monday morning at UF Health and is currently on a breathing machine. All he can do to communicate is shake his head yes or no.
Police said, right now, they have no motive or suspect information, which is putting residents on high alert.
"It is very alarming to me. I live two blocks up, so we’re all concerned. It’s a loving community, and we don’t need this. I am high anxiety and yes it is peaking," Jane O'Neal said. "I just try to keep my focus and stay to myself as much as possible or into my own business but this is very alarming it gives me extreme anxiety, and I’m sure it does a lot of people."
"It kind of makes me fear for my own life just walking around. Somebody just rode by and pow, pow, pow. It’s sad. It’s very sad. It’s disgusting," Angie Blouin said.
No shootings were reported in Fernandina Beach in 2018, but police said two men have been shot in 2019.
The previous shooting happened in August. A Jacksonville man was shot and killed in Fernandina Beach, and the man accused of pulling the trigger was arrested.