JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A 3-year-old boy died at an area hospital Saturday, two days after he was shot in the head, according to his family. His mother was also injured in the Thursday night shooting in a Northwest Jacksonville neighborhood, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said.
Police said four people, two of them children, were in the home on Broadway Avenue at Carrie Street about 10 p.m. when somebody came in and started shooting. The child was hit in the head; his mother was shot in the leg.
A family member provided News4Jax photos of the victims and identified the mother as Rashaela Mickens and her son as Connor. Mickens was released from UF Health Jacksonville on Friday, but Connor remained in intensive care.
Police, who spent about 10 hours processing the crime scene, said they have leads on who the shooter might be, but they have not made an arrest. They said the shooter is a man, possibly in his mid-20s.
Brian Littles, who police described as an ex-boyfriend of the mother, turned himself in at 1 p.m. Friday. He was arrested on a gun charge stemming from a juvenile warrant from 2010 and was being questioned by homicide detectives in the shooting.
Littles was the featured fugitive on News4Jax's Wheel of Justice in May. At the time, he was wanted on $25,000 bond.
Relatives said Thursday night's shooting stemmed from a domestic dispute.
"My sister, she's numb," the boy's aunt told News4Jax. "I'm a mother. I have two boys. To have to go through that, I think no mother should ever have to be in a situation like this based on something somebody else did out of their own self-worth."
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the Sheriff's Office at 904-630-0500 or Crime Stoppers at 866-845-TIPS.
Police have not confirmed whether there was domestic violence in the past.
Domestic violence affects thousands of men, women and children in Northeast Florida each year. There are four main types of abuse: physical, emotional, economic and sexual.
The CEO of the Hubbard House, Dr. Gail Patin, said the most dangerous time can be when a person decides to leave an abusive relationship.
"It is an absolute critical time to get intervention because the abuse and the abuser and don't necessarily stop just because the survivor has decided to end a relationship. They might stalk them. They may show up at their home unannounced. They may continue the violence," Patin said. "So it's really really important that they get help. And for some people, they need to go into hiding when they leave that relationship."
Patin said in more than 50 percent of the homes where domestic violence occurs, children are there.
Anyone who is a victim of domestic violence can call the Hubbard House 24-hour hotline at 904-354-3114.