JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The violence ratcheted up in the last part of October with nine people killed in the last 11 days of the month, including a 3-year-old boy and a mother less than a week from her 31st birthday.
Also among those killed in October were a brother and sister and a pair of friends who grew up as brothers, according to family.
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News4Jax has recorded 113 homicides in Jacksonville so far this year. Through the first 10 months of 2016, there were 96 homicides in the city, according to our records.
There were 27 homicides reported in the first two months of 2017, another 18 in March and April, 13 in May, 23 in June and July, 11 in August and nine in September.
JACKSONVILLE HOMICIDES: January | February | March, April |
May | June | July | August | September
Below, we have listed the names and ages of the October homicide victims and the information surrounding their deaths. We have also included a photo of each victim, where available.
Many of the cases remain unsolved. If you have information about any of these crimes, call the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office at 904-630-0500 or CrimeStoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS.
Sunday, Oct. 1
Robert Williams Jr., 38
Williams was found shot to death at an apartment complex on Justina Terrace in the Arlington area. Police had no description of a possible shooter.
Friday, Oct. 6
Garrick Austin, 27
Austin was found shot to death at a home on East 31st Street in the city's Brentwood neighborhood. Police said there was evidence of drug activity at the home where they found his body. Police did not have a suspect description.
Wednesday, Oct. 11
Xavier Houston, 24
Houston, the son of a female Jacksonville police officer, was shot and killed during a burglary at a Park Street home on the city's Westside, police said. Houston and another man, who ran from the scene, were confronted by the man who lives at the home and Houston was fatally shot, police said. He died inside the car the two men had driven to the home. The shooting is being considered justifiable, police said.
Sunday, Oct. 21
Connor Mickens, 3
Connor died two days after being shot in the head at a home on Broadway Avenue in Northwest Jacksonville. His mother was shot in the leg and released from the hospital. Her ex-boyfriend, Brian Littles, was arrested in connection with the case but was initially only facing gun and battery charges. He was later charged with felony murder in Connor's death and two counts of attempted murder. The forensics report showed it was not his bullet that killed Connor, but he was the instigator, police said.
Tuesday, Oct. 24
Sharon Lamb, 55, and Michael Lamb, 52
Sharon Lamb (left) and Michael Lamb (right) were found dead inside a home in the Argyle Forest neighborhood. Police have not said how the two were killed but said they suspect foul play and are investigating the deaths as a double murder. Police said they're looking for information about a red Ford Escort or green Ford Explorer, which are currently in the Sheriff's Office's possession, because they may have been used in the commission of the murders.
Tuesday, Oct. 26
Isadore Powell, 39
Powell was shot and killed at his home on Kings Park Drive in the Grand Park neighborhood. Powell's brother told News4Jax that Powell went outside after receiving a phone call and that the person who called him shot him and drove away. Police have not released any information about the shooter.
Saturday, Oct. 28
Darnell Dues, 30, and Dorian Brown Sr., 27
Dues (left) and Brown (right) were found shot at West 28th and Stuart streets in the Moncrief neighborhood. Brown died at the scene and Dues died at the hospital, police said. Family members said the two were longtime friends and grew up as brothers. Over 40 shell casings from multiple firearms were found at the scene, and police said the shooters drove off, but they did not have a motive for the shooting or any descriptions of the suspects.
Saturday, Oct. 28
Derrick Hill, 37
Hill was found on Fleming Street in the Lackawanna neighborhood with a fatal gunshot wound to his upper body, police said. There was a party going on outside a home when Hill was shot, police said. James Dantzler was later arrested in the case.
Monday, Oct. 30
Telly Simmons, 42
Simmons was fatally shot at an apartment complex on Bert Road in the Arlington area and was found dead in his car on the Mathews Bridge. There were bullet holes in the car and shell casings and a gun were found at the apartments on Bert Road. Police did not have a description of the shooter.
Tuesday, Oct. 31
Christina Ashlee Rucker, 30
Rucker was killed and her sister was critically wounded in a double shooting at the Cedar Creek condominiums on San Juan Avenue in the Hyde Park area. Police arrested Rucker's ex-boyfriend, Chad Absher, two days later after he surrendered following a manhunt.