TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A man accused of killing a teenage girl and shooting three adults in a Jacksonville neighborhood last month was transferred to Jacksonville Wednesday after he was arrested Monday afternoon in Tallahassee.
Bryan Keefe Goggins Jr., 24, was taken into custody at an apartment complex on South Adams Street after a 45-minute standoff with U.S. marshals in Tallahassee. He was ordered held without bond on Duval County warrants charging him with second-degree murder, possession of a firearm, weapon and ammunition by a convicted felon and resisting arrest without violence, as well as drug and motor vehicle violations.
Goggins is charged with shooting Tamia Sanders, 15, her mother and two others on Aug. 13 as they were during a block party on West 38th Street in Brentwood. Sanders died of her injuries.
According to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, during a night of drinking with neighbors, Goggins’ mother, Luwanda Mack, got into an argument with Robert Gibbs. During the argument, Mack said she was going to call her son to help settle the argument.
Mack told police the following day that Goggins and his brother, Byron Goggins, showed up shortly after calling. Once Bryan Goggins arrived, he got out and started looking for Gibbs, who had already left. Mack told deputies that she saw Byron Gibbs arguing with a woman when she heard shooting. Mack said she immediately left after hearing the shots.
Mack told officers that Bryan Goggins called her shortly after the shooting and told her that he shot the victims, because he didn’t want anyone disrespecting his mother.
According to a police-monitored call between Mack and Bryan Goggins, he admitted to the shooting but told Mack to lie and tell police that he was in Texas at the time.
Byron Goggins told police that he did not have a gun and did not shoot at anyone.
Witnesses told officers that Mack has a history of getting into arguments while drinking and calling her son to threaten the people arguing with her.
Kenyata Williams, who has recovered from her injuries but is still grieving her daughter's death, told News4Jax she is relieved by Bryan Goggins' arrest.
"I can finally get some sleep," she said.
Edward Taylor was on the street when the shots were fired.
"I seen them shooting, and I ducked down between two cars," Taylor said. "They passed by me so fast I couldn't really tell what was going on. I know they’ve been running, but a lot of people out here know who he was. It was just a matter of time."
In the five weeks since the shootings, residents said children were not allowed out to play.
"It's been kind of crazy," Kendra Devaugh said. "Everyone stays in their house, you know, just afraid to even sit on your front porch at times. You don’t know if the guy is going to come back.
People in the community Tuesday were relieved to hear there was an arrest in the shootings.
"It’s a blessing because shouldn’t nobody have to suffer like that with their child getting killed and murdered with someone walking around like that," Devaugh said.
Others said a lot of people moved out of the neighborhood after the shootings, including Kenyata Williams and her boyfriend.
Bryan Goggins appeared before a Leon County judge Tuesday and was ordered held pending transfer to Duval County.
News4Jax crime and safety analyst Gil Smith said the help of the U.S. Marshals Office in a case like this can be invaluable.
"They do have informants and contacts in just about every city. So they work just like local law enforcement, but they can spread around throughout the state and throughout the country with their contacts and that's probably what they did in this case," Smith said.
Bryan Goggins is being held in a Duval County jail without bond.