JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A neighborhood is grieving after a 4-year-old girl was killed, and her mother and 2-year-old sister were critically injured on Tuesday when they were shot by the girls’ father at a home on Jacksonville’s Northside, according to police.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said it responded to the shooting at a home on Traci Lynn Drive in the Highlands neighborhood, and officers found a 2-year-old girl, a 4-year-old girl, and their 27-year-old mother suffering from gunshot wounds just before Tuesday at 5 p.m.
The 4-year-old girl died at the scene from her injuries, according to JSO. The other two were taken to the hospital in life-threatening condition and were undergoing surgery.
“The young lady, she was on the ground on the porch, she was the first thing I saw and then the grandmother’s sitting there with the child in her hands. Yeah the time, it’s like time stopped,” Michael Gorman, a neighbor, said.
On this street, the kids play outside, neighbors know each other and families look out for one another. That’s why neighbors here are struggling to understand how a four-year-old girl lost her life in a place they always considered safe.
“I was working from home when we heard the shots,” Gorman said. “My wife was outside, I brought her inside. I went over to see if there was anything I could do. It was devastating. Absolutely devastating.”
Another neighbor said she saw the shooter speed away in a car when she looked outside of her window.
“By the time I came outside, he was gone,” Dee said. “He was driving on the block and then I heard screaming, so I ran over there...”
According to JSO, a domestic dispute between the woman and the father of her children led to the shooting.
At the time, there were no witnesses to help provide information that would lead to a motive. JSO also said that it has responded to past domestic dispute calls between the woman and the father.
JSO tracked down the father about 20 minutes after the shooting, and he was taken into custody. His name has not been released.
The investigation is ongoing.
“Nothing like this has ever happened in this neighborhood, on this street ever, and for something like this that happened, especially to a child, it’s just utterly heartbreaking,” Gorman said.
JSO’s Chief of Investigations Michael Paul acknowledged that the involvement of children, especially the death of a 4-year-old, significantly impacts investigators and the neighborhood.
“It’s sad. It’s upsetting when anybody is injured, shot or hurt, but when it’s children, it’s even more so, especially when you have a child who is deceased at the scene,” Paul said. “It’s tough for investigators, and it’s tough for the neighborhood, for the neighbors who know the kids.”
One man in the neighborhood was devastated by the loss of such a young child.
“Police are out here now, but it’s too late, it’s too late,” he said. “We have to find a way for us as individuals, the JSO department, and us as a community to do better. My reaction? [It’s] crazy, I can’t believe it.”
If you have any information about this shooting, call 904-630-0500.