JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters came out with strong statements during a news conference on Wednesday following a surge of shootings and child deaths. The sheriff asked where the leaders were and accused some of having selective outrage.
“Where are the other leaders in town that have the opportunity to stand here with me today? I don’t call them, but why aren’t they speaking it out? We heard from them a few weeks ago, why are we not hearing from them today?” Waters said.
City leaders are now pushing back on those comments. The ones who spoke with News4JAX said they’re here where they’ve always been. They are fighting the same fight, just in different ways.
Waters told News4JAX on Thursday afternoon that no one has reached out to him since his news conference, but the NAACP did issue a statement following the news conference and called for the senseless violence to stop.
News4JAX spoke with State Representative Angie Nixon, a Democrat, after Sheriff Waters said leaders’ reactions to the deaths of the children weren’t as strong as the outrage seen after the racist attack at the Dollar General store last month.
“It would be great if the sheriff could stop being politically divisive, right? And actually, go out and try to solve the murder of these two babies,” Nixon said, adding that she wishes Waters would have reached out to those groups before his news conference.
The sheriff said his officers are working around the clock on these cases.
Nixon said she is outraged by the shootings but feels we should look at the root causes of a lot of the violence happening. She advocates for programs to give people resources like mental health, jobs, and more to help reduce violence.
“We have to make sure that all of our communities, and everyone that lives within them have the opportunity to live healthy, prosperous, and safe. When that happens, people don’t resort to a life of crime,” Nixon said.
During the news conference on Wednesday, Waters was asked if a lack of economic resources and systemic racism plays into why these shootings happen.
“Name me a legitimate excuse for murder, for taking someone’s loved one? There isn’t one,” Waters said. “I don’t care what the issues are that lead to it. We have a responsibility as civil human beings in a civilized society not to murder each other, not to murder kids.”
News4JAX asked Waters about the argument that if we solve the why, there would be fewer victims.
“It’s not my job to solve the why,” Waters said.
The sheriff did say he wants to focus on the why later. It’s his job to make the arrests.
Nixon said JSO can’t arrest its way out of the gun violence problem.
The Northside Coalition said it feels Waters chastised the community with his statements on Wednesday.
They say they are outraged at him and sent a strongly worded statement reading in part:
“You are doing the same things over and over and expecting a different result. And then when you aren’t able to prevent the group violence that occurs, you have a press conference to lash out at the community? That is an outrage!” Kelly Frazier, President of the Northside Coalition of Jacksonville, said in a strongly-worded statement. “We are outraged at you, Sheriff! We are outraged at you because the Northside Coalition, the 38 churches affiliated with ICARE, and many others have been asking you for years to fully implement the research-based, proven-successful, community-driven Group Violence Intervention model program from the National Network for Safe Communities and you have refused to do so saying JSO’s version of the program is working just fine. As everyone but you seems to be able to see, IT IS NOT WORKING!...After chastising the community, you then asked for our help. Yes, if people can help solve these crimes, they should. By the same token, why should we trust you and put our lives in your hands when you can’t even admit that systemic racism exists in Jacksonville because you, a Black man, were elected Sheriff, or because Blacks and whites sit together at Jaguar games?”
Mayor Donna Deegan also issued a statement Thursday on the recent wave of shootings.
“My heart breaks for the families impacted by this recent wave of shootings. Everyday gun violence does not have to be who we are as a city. We are taking local action to prevent it, including a revival of the Jacksonville Journey with a focus on literacy, prevention and intervention programs that address the root causes of violent crime. We are also developing a safe gun storage public education campaign with Sheriff Waters to keep firearms out of the hands of criminals and stop accidental shootings,” Deegan said.