JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Six deaths in Jacksonville have been reported over the past four years in what have been investigated as a string of retaliation killings.
Arguably, the most high profile case was the killing of 7-year-old Tashawn Gallon in 2018. No one was arrested for that shooting because police said the fatal shot came from a relative firing back at drive-by shooters.
Now, the State Attorney’s Office has closed its investigation into the murders because the last remaining suspect has now also been killed.
This started in November 2017 when Telvin Kennedy was murdered. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office suspected that a woman named Veta Muller ordered his death.
Three months later, Muller was found shot several times outside a Northwest Jacksonville home and did not survive. The Sheriff’s Office suspected a man named Dominique Holcomb was responsible.
The following month, Holcomb was wounded in the drive-by shooting in which Gallon was killed after being struck by crossfire.
Gallon’s aunt, Neco, told News4Jax she raised the 7-year-old boy.
“It’s still not justified to us,” she said. “Dealing with the situation, it’s never going to be easy. It’s never going to be enough. We miss him so much. He was like the energy of the family and without him it’s a everyday struggle.”
Gallon’s death wasn’t the end of this string of violence. Silas Ervin and Etrice Inman, a couple, were gunned down at a block party months later. Social media posts pointed to revenge over Gallon.
Then this year, Holcomb -- the man wanted in connection with Muller’s death -- was killed. It’s led the State Attorney’s Office to closing its remaining investigation into her death.
Despite that, investigators are still working to determine who fired the shot that killed Holcomb, and why.