JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Police are searching for whoever murdered a 15-year-old boy during an altercation before dawn Wednesday in a Lakeshore neighborhood.
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said Johnnie Carter was shot and killed about 5 a.m. in the street near the intersection of Sunderland Road and Vista Avenue, two blocks west of Blanding Boulevard.
"We don't know what to think or what to do. We are horrified," said Sharon Quigley, Carter's aunt.
VIDEO: Johnnie's mother speaks about search for killer
People who knew Carter was hanging out with friends down the street from his home when he was shot. A friend said she was with the boy earlier in the night.
"We picked him up and we hung out with all our friends. We dropped him off. It was getting really late. It was like 4 (a.m.). Everyone has to go to work in the morning and have jobs. I watched him walk up to the gate to make sure he got in OK and everything. Then I get the call at 7 this morning that he was shot and dead. I thought it was a sick joke," Amber Barker said. "He has no enemies, is a really good person."
Police said it appears that there was some sort of altercation.
"There was a gunshot, gunfire, and then one of the people involved left the scene homicide," Sgt. Robert John said. "We don’t have any information, so their description isn’t verified."
Police didn't know if the person was armed.
"We’re still interviewing witnesses and people in the neighborhood who may have seen something," John said.
News4Jax crime and safety analyst Gil Smith said Jacksonville does have a curfew law. A parent or legal guardian is accountable, by law, for knowing the whereabouts and activities of their underage children. Kids under 18 cannot be out after 11 p.m. on weekdays and 12 a.m. on weekends without a guardian or adult, or unless they are engaged in a sanctioned activity, such as work.
"(During the) summer time, parents have a feeling they (children) work so hard in school, want to relax with them a little bit, allow them a little bit more freedom, but the world we're living in today, such a very violent world, need to make sure they are where they should be," Smith said.
But family members said Carter's mother had no idea that he had left the house.
"He was a typical teenager. He would sneak out and hang out with his friends. She didn't even know he was gone. He came in several times to talk to her and sometime in between, that time is when he left the house with his friends," Quigley said.
Carter was turning 16 at the end of the month.
"He would play in the neighborhood, skate, hang out with all the kids. He was a good kid and loved to be outside," said Danielle Buckler, Carter's cousin.
A candlelight vigil will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday at Lakeshore United Methodist Church on Blanding Boulevard, where Carter was a part of the youth choir.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 866-845-TIPS.
