JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Family members of 62-year-old Gary Bell, who was gunned down on his way to work in October near Moncrief Road and West 35th Street, say they may finally be getting the answers they've been waiting for.
According to the family, police have someone in custody but detectives are still investigating the case and won't release any details about the person.
The family said this is a needed moment of relief in the middle of a terrible tragedy.
It's been exactly three months since Bell was shot and killed on the Northside while he was heading to work. Not a day goes by his family doesn't think about him.
"People say, 'I know you all miss him.' But sometimes, when you're riding down the street or you see someone going by, they have so many mannerisms like him, it's almost as if he's embodied him," said Yolanda Doctor-Aaron, Bell's niece. "You're like, 'Gary's not here anymore,' but you'll see someone that looks like him and you have to do a second take."
According to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, Bell's body was found on a sidewalk and he was possibly being robbed at the time of the shooting.
Doctor-Aaron said her family has been waiting for and hoping a break in the case would come. Tuesday night, they received a call from the lead detective.
"When they called last night, I went to Ecclesiastes 3, 'For everything there is a season. There is a time to be born, there is a time to die, there's a time to mourn and a time to heal,'" Doctor-Aaron said. "We're starting our healing process, that's where our family is at this moment."
Details of the investigation aren't being released quite yet, but Doctor-Aaron said she hopes questions will be answered.
"Will we ever get justice? I don't think you ever get justice, because the true and full story never really comes out," Doctor-Aaron said. "You're still only faced to hear what the perpetrator says, because the victim is gone. You will never hear their side until the end of the world."
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office has not yet responded to a request for more details on the case.