JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A 17-year-old and a 20-year-old have been charged in the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old last November in the College Gardens neighborhood of Northwest Jacksonville, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office announced Thursday.
Police said Jairus Rondell Smith, 17, was also wounded in the shooting on Nov. 11 off Kings Road but survived. At the time, Smith’s injuries were listed as critical.
Investigators said they later learned Smith and Vashaun Dante’ Dailey, 20, had been involved in a robbery that led to the 15-year-old, identified by family members as Cordell Williams, being fatally shot.
Quanisha Walker, Williams’ older sister, said he was a good, friendly kid who was on his way to get food from a Burger King when he got caught in the gunfire.
At the time of the shooting, investigators said a weapon was recovered.
Smith was arrested March 27 and charged with first-degree murder while committing a felony. Dailey was arrested Wednesday and charged with second-degree murder and armed robbery.
Walker told News4Jax on Thursday it’s bittersweet to know the two young men are behind bars, but it still doesn’t bring her brother back.
“All I know is that it was a robbery gone bad and you know three parents have lost their kids, so this is tough," Walker said. “I really can’t process it at the moment because, you know, he was just 15. But I’m happy that these people are off the streets."
Walker said Smith was a classmate or Williams’ at First Coast High School.
“I never knew his name, just knew his face,” she said.
Of the 159 people killed in 2019 Jacksonville, more than half (80) were under the age of 30, including 27 teenagers, a 3-year-old girl and two babies.
Williams was one of more than two dozen victims killed in the 32209 ZIP code last year.
“It could be anyone and I just want to see the community do better," Williams’ sister said.
Walker said the hardest part of the last five months without her brother was the holidays.
“Christmas, everything, because, you know, he’s my babysitter, he cooks, his school still reaches out, he touched teachers,” she said.
Williams would have celebrated his 16th birthday in July.
Walker added that she wants to thank the Sheriff’s Office for their role in the investigation and how quickly the murder charges were brought forward.