JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A man shot to death Saturday night while several people were nearby on a street during a party in the city’s Lackawanna neighborhood has been identified, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said.
Derrick Hill, 37, was found dead in the street with a gunshot to his upper body, police said.
Police were called just before 10 p.m. to the shooting on Fleming Street, near the intersection of Edison Avenue and King Street.
Officers were told the shooter or shooters left the scene, but they had no description. Homicide detectives were interviewing witnesses for more information.
Officers said dozens of shell casings were found near Hill's body.
Residents told News4Jax the continued violence in their neighborhood is driving out people such as Jasmine Mohamed and Woodrow Kroll. They moved to Lackawanna from California earlier this year and said they are already preparing their home to move.
“Somebody got executed over there (pointing down his street). We had a shootout right here in July,” Kroll said. “There’s no way. I can’t dodge bullets coming home every night.”
Mohamed told News4Jax that she thought the neighborhood would be safer than it turned out to be.
“We thought we were close enough to Riverside and Downtown and that we would be OK, but, obviously, we’re not,” Mohamed said. “We don’t mind the neighborhood, it’s just the violence.”
News4Jax reported two other violent crimes in the Lackawanna neighborhood in 2017. On May 28, a man was found shot to death behind a home across the street from Kroll and Mohamed’s house.
On Aug. 18, there was a double shooting at King and Fleming streets.
“We’re leaving. I’ve got kids here. I’ve got grown kids living here,” Kroll said. “My sister-in-law is living here with kids. We can’t stay.”
“It’s horrible. Actually, we are on the way out because there were two other shootings on the street after we moved in. We’re scared. We’re actually fixing up the house and leaving,” Mohamed said.
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 866-845-TIPS.