JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The News4Jax I-TEAM has obtained previous calls for service that were made by police to a Jacksonville foster home where on Monday, a 9-year-old boy was shot in the head.
A police report from June 2018 said the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office was called to the house on Alexandra Drive in reference to an 11-year-old girl who was hearing voices. She was diabetic and refusing to take her medication.
The officer who responded to the residence where The Johnson Medical Foster Home was operating out of wrote:
”Based on observations and complainant's statements, the subject met the criteria for a Baker Act, because there is a substantial likelihood that she will cause serious bodily harm to herself if she does receive treatment.”
PREVIOUS STORY: Mother of 9-year-old shot in Northside home says 'he's holding on'
A second report News4Jax obtained said the foster home operator, Linda Johnson, called police. The officer wrote:
“Her adoptive daughter suffers from ADHD, schizophrenia and a mood disorder, and she was throwing things around in the house and fighting with her brothers and little sister. The complainant advised she is afraid that the subject is going to cause harm to the people in the home. The subject began to hit herself in the head and bite herself on the wrist while yelling, 'I just want to kill myself.'”
The young girl was detained in that incident, police said.
In the third report, the incident was almost identical, ending in the young girl being detained and Baker Acted.
The I-TEAM wanted to find out who oversees Jacksonville foster homes and how much they get paid. News4Jax learned fosters get a nontaxable subsidy from the government to take care of any children they take in.
DCF reports foster parents are paid $429 a month for children up to age 5, $440 a month for children ages 6 to 12, and $515 a month for children over age 13. Compensation rates are higher for children with special needs.
It's still unclear is how the gun got into the home where the child was shot. The mother of the injured 9-year-old said she wasn’t aware of any guns being in the house. A police report said her son was shot while she went to a store.