JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A girl who was killed in a double shooting early Saturday morning in the Jacksonville Heights area was 14 years old, according to Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office records.
On Sunday, loved ones visited the neighborhood to pay their respects. People came by and left candles, teddy bears and a balloon that had the words “rest up Makayla” written on it.
The Sheriff’s Office said the incident happened around 1:10 a.m. Saturday on Renault Drive near Hillman Drive, off 103rd Street, directly across from Jacksonville Heights Elementary.
Officers said that when they arrived, they found two victims — the teenage girl and a man — with gunshot wounds. The Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department said the girl died at the scene, despite attempts to save her life. Police said the man was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injures.
The Sheriff’s Office said investigators believe two groups of people were outside a house when an argument broke out and several people pulled out weapons and exchanged gunfire, striking the man and the girl.
A neighbor, who wished to remain anonymous, told News4Jax she heard a lot of arguing before gunshots went off.
“It was just so close. It was scary. I immediately dropped to the floor and shield for my kids. I was terrified,” she said. “The youth need to just put the guns down. I mean, guns are not a toy, you know? I feel like the innocent girl could’ve still been alive today.”
The neighbor said her heart goes out to the girl’s family.
“Just devastating,” she said.
Several people were detained and taken to the Police Memorial Building for interviews, police said.
The Sheriff’s Office said it appeared to be an isolated incident between parties who know each other.
Officers were also called to investigate the death of a man and a shooting over the weekend.
On Friday night, according to the Sheriff’s Office, there was an altercation between a man and the driver of a vehicle at the intersection of McDuff Avenue and McQuade Street. Investigators said one of the individuals involved fired a shot from a weapon, and the driver of the vehicle fatally struck the man in the roadway.
On Sunday morning, the Sheriff’s Office said, police found a man, who had been shot, standing in the middle of Morgan Street in the New Town neighborhood. Police said the man was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
According to News4Jax records, 383 people have been shot so far this year in Jacksonville — nearing the 389 people shot in all of 2019. There have been 126 homicides in Jacksonville already in 2020 compared to 110 at this point last year, which had the highest number of homicides in the 15 years that News4Jax has kept its own records on violent crime in the city.
Of the homicides in Jacksonville so far this year, 13 involved children under the age of 18, News4Jax records show. News4Jax records also show that a minor was involved in a homicide every month this year.