JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office has identified the two murder victims in the car shooting on Westbrook Circle West Wednesday.
The victims are the parents of the baby also found in the back seat of the vehicle. The parents are George Williams Ashley, 26, and Brittany Shantel White, 21.
The child is in Department of Children and Families’ custody. The child was taken for precautionary reasons to a local hospital for evaluation. The child will remain in DCF custody until they can determine who will take custody of the child. DCF will be overseeing the placement of the infant.
Authorities confirmed Thursday morning they have identified the 6-month-old girl found unharmed in a car with two murder victims on the Westside.
Santonio Roberts said he's the cousin of the man killed. Roberts told News4Jax the woman killed was his cousin's girlfriend and the child is theirs.
Roberts said he can't understand why anyone would want to harm the couple. He said whoever did it needs to turn themselves in.
"For somebody to be in the car while their child was in the car had to be someone they trusted. To come into the car. Man whoever you are, if you're going to turn yourself in, turn yourself in,” Roberts pleaded. “But, I can't give any motives for what was going on, but I just know man, they didn't have to die. They didn't have to die. Cause whatever it was, it was not serious."
Roberts said both Ashley and White were good people and very much in love.
"They were like a perfect couple. Match made in heaven. They completed each other. They never, to the surface, had any problems,” Roberts said. “They were one good little family, they lasted for years."
Roberts continued, "It could have been worse because the child could have been killed. At least the child is living. That's sad news; that's real bad there."
DCF said the 6-month-old is in foster care for now until JSO can find family members that are able to care for her. Roberts said that shouldn't be a problem.
"I know the child is going to be with family. I'm not worried about that. I know the best is going to happen for the child. I know that. That's the least of my worries,” Roberts said. “Just when that time come when you have to tell the child. What age is that ok? You have to tell them what really happened to their parents. Hopefully the child doesn't remember the incident."
The murdered victims were shot and killed on Westbrook Circle West, north of Beaver Street, in the Robinson's Addition neighborhood.
The man was found dead in the driver's seat and a woman was found dead in the passenger's seat of a black four-door, 2000 Nissan Maxima.
The 6-month-old girl was found alive in the car after the shooting.
"She's cute as a button," said Chief Tom Hackney with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. “This child is going to be turned over to the Department of Children and Families. Again thank God she's OK and they will take her and may place her in a foster family for the time being until we figure out whose child she is.”
A man who said he's the cousin of the man killed told News4Jax the woman killed was his cousin's girlfriend and the child is theirs.
"It could have been worse because the child could have been killed. At least the child is living," Santonio Roberts said. "That's sad news; that's real bad there"
Roberts said he can't understand why anyone would want to harm the couple. He said whoever did it needs to turn themselves in.
Police said they initially got a phone call about a car crash on Westbrook Circle. Moments later they received another phone call that a baby and two people were inside the car and the adults were seriously injured.
The woman who made the 911 phone call lives on the same street, but right now she is terrified for her life and for her children because the person who did this could still be out there.
“It was so loud. It scared me and I jumped out,” the woman said. “I jumped out the house to see what was going on.”
The witness described it as a nightmare. She said she was sitting at her home when she heard two loud bangs, and then she looked outside.
“When I saw the guy running, I immediately called 911. And I told him that a car had just crashed into my neighbor’s fence and a guy had just jumped out and ran,” the woman said.
But what the witness did not know was there were two dead people in the car. She said she heard the cries of what sounded like a baby, just minutes after the crash.
“We saw the baby in the car seat and she was in the backseat,” the witness said. “We saw a female and a male. The male was slumped over the females lap and the female’s head was hanging down.”
Other neighbors are also scared because the gunman is allegedly still at large.
“I heard about five or six shots and I heard a speedy car chase,” said Mr. Joe, a resident in the area. “I heard five shots. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, and I heard a car racing and then about 10 minutes later I see two police cars running, chasing down Commonwealth.”
Hackney said they had reason to believe the shots were fired from inside the car and they are not treating this as a murder-suicide. Police are investigating the possibility the shooter took off after the double murder.
Anyone with information is urged to call JSO at 904-630-0500.