JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – People who live along Moncrief Road know the area has more than its share of violence, but four shootings in just over a mile stretch since Tuesday night have residents and the city councilwoman who represents the area speaking out.
At 11:15 p.m. Tuesday the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office say a man in a car the Winn-Dixie parking lot on Moncrief Road was shot in the shoulder. The victim survived, but police have not indicated the gunman was captured.
Early Wednesday morning police found a man with a gunshot wound to his chest at the corner of Ken Knight Drive and Moncrief. The man survived and told police he was shot by a man who attempted to rob him. A suspect was arrested after a high-speed chase that ended in a crash.
On Wednesday night, while police were at the scene of a shooting on Cavalier Road, they got a call of another shooting and found 18-year-old Javonta Robinson dead on the side of Lorenzo Court. Detectives haven't provided many details and no suspect information was given, but officers said the two shootings may be connected.
"I call it human blight because that's exactly what it is. People riding up and down the street shooting at each other: Disrespecting homeowners, robbing, killing. That's a problem," said Councilwoman Denise Lee.
Lee's not pointing fingers at police, but at local leaders like neighborhood block captains, local ministers and the city's Neighborhoods Department for not stepping up and leading this community.
"You have to reorganize the neighborhood. The city has to step up within its Neighborhoods Department," Lee said.
Lee said that this historically was a great neighborhood, but the continuing violence has driven many longtime residents and businesses out, and with them, stability.
Some people who live in the area now seem resigned to the problems.
"I say to myself, 'What can I do?'" Robert Ward said. "I've learned to live with it. Goes on every day."
But others continue to fight the violence.
"(Some say) 'This is the way it is, you can't change it. You just learn to live with it.' Well I totally disagree with that, because at one time this was a very nice neighborhood, and I still consider the neighborhood to be nice," said Inez Buie.