JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Facebook Live broadcast of a rap video being produced Monday night on Jacksonville’s Westside led to the arrest of five men on weapons charges, according to police.
Arrest reports from the Jacksonville Sherriff’s Office show that investigators were alerted to live feeds on social media of the video, which was being filmed in a cul-de-sac on Indian Lakes Drive, off Ricker Road, north of 103rd Street.
Multiple police units converged on the location and detained several men who police said were seen flashing guns in the video.
A video posted by Duval Promo shows dozens of JSO patrol cars in the neighborhood and one man being led away in handcuffs.
News4Jax spoke with the wife of one of the men arrested who says her husband wasn’t associated with the music video.
The woman, who wants to remain anonymous, says her husband Devonte Floyd is one of the men police arrested.
“It was really wild," the wife said. "It was okay at first until the police pulled up and they pulled up like 30 deep and they just started picking random people and putting them in the back of their cars.”
Tari Mitchell, 21, and Floyd, 27, are both charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Ryan Pinkett, 20, Jahlon Wilson, 21, and David Bradley, 28, are all charged with carrying a concealed weapon.
“The people that they arrested, some of them wasn’t even in the music video," Floyd’s wife said.
News4Jax Crime and Safety Expert Ken Jefferson says posting the video on social media helps police.
“These criminals who want to have their 15 minutes, it may turn out that they’ll have 15 years,” Jefferson said.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, five handguns and an assault rifle -- all loaded -- were confiscated at the scene.
Officers made a recording of the rap video for evidence and alerted the Gangs Unit to the arrest, the report said.