On top of Jacksonville dealing with COVID-19, this has also been a summer of violence -- specifically in July.
In the first 12 days of July, dozens of people have been shot and 12 people have died.
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This comes as Jacksonville is already ahead well ahead of its pace of homicides for the year.
On Saturday, a man killed on the Westside in the parking lot of an oil-change business on 103rd Street and another was stabbed near San Juan and Roosevelt.
On Thursday night, Jacksonville police found a man dead in the middle of Palmdale Street on Jacksonville’s Northwest side.
On the Southside, JSO is searching for a woman who may be connected to a deadly shooting Thursday night at the Knights Inn hotel in the Baymeadows area.
News4Jax crime and safety expert Ken Jefferson, who retired after more than 20 years with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, said the trend is concerning.
“We are on pace-setting a record for homicide this year looking at the data that we have right now and that’s not a good thing for our city,” Jefferson said. (I think a) contributing factor I think a lot of times, particularly during the summer, is a lot of restlessness with young people because when you look at the average age of a victim they are young, relatively speaking.
On the Westside, also Thursday, a fight inside of an SUV turned deadly on Jammes Road. One man in his early 20s was shot multiple times. A trail of blood from the SUV led to another person who was shot but survived.
This summer is on pace to have more shootings and deaths from gun violence than last year, making it a challenging and stressful time for police and the public when everyone simply wants peace.
When we asked JSO about the shootings in July and whether or not these are isolated situations, a spokesperson for JSO said the following:
“I have been unable to locate stats to date for the month of July to be able to verify the crime rate has increased,” the spokesperson said. “However, in reference to recent reported shootings, the given scenarios would be two of the many possible motives for the crimes to have occurred.”
When asked about a comment to the public about the shootings, the spokesperson said: “No comment available as of this response.”