JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – One man was killed and three others were injured in three separate violent incidents, including two shootings, within a nine-hour span in Northwest Jacksonville.
It's unclear whether any of the shootings are related. At last check, police had not made any arrests in the cases.
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office was called at 9:02 p.m. Thursday to Edgewood Avenue West near Cleveland Road, where they said they found one person with two gunshot wounds lying on the ground. That person was rushed to UF Health hospital. Police said they later learned a second person drove himself to the hospital. There's no word on what led to the shooting, only that there was some type of argument.
Around the same time, police were called not far from that area to Ridge Boulevard and Valerie Street. People reported gunfire and police said they found one man, who had been shot, inside a car. The man was taken to a hospital, where he underwent treatment for serious gunshot wounds, police said. There was also a woman in the car, according to police, but she was not injured.
Hours later, about 5:40 a.m. Friday, not far from the previous two shooting scenes, a man was found dead on Doeboy Street near the intersection of West 45th Street and Moncrief Road, after shots were heard, police said.
As a result of the violence in Jacksonville, the city recently kicked off the Cure Violence program, which is operated by an outside nonprofit organization that the city is paying to help fight the problem from within by talking to those involved on the street.
Paul Tutwiler, who is helping to oversee the program, texted News4Jax, "We are conducting our street level assessments so that we can plan our response to the families and community."
News4Jax crime and safety expert Ken Jefferson weighed in on the overnight violence and the response.
“A lot is being done, but it doesn’t look like it's yielding any fruit,” Jefferson said. "We’ve got to to be patient with the process."
Raymond Hayes, who has been in the area for more than 50 years, has his own theory as to what is happening to the neighborhood.
“I really think it's gang-affiliated and I think that is the problem,” Hayes said.
He went on to say that he believes police are not doing enough.
“If I were the police, I could take 20 people to jail today. And if the police can’t do it, something ain’t right,” Hayes added.
Jefferson said the Sheriff's Office should be doing more. He said the community walks by the sheriff are popular, but the ones doing the walks should be the officers who are in the area so they can get to know the people and those people can get to know and trust them.
According to a University of North Florida poll, for the fifth year in a row, the majority of registered voters (45%) agreed crime is the most important issue in Jacksonville.