JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A string of violence is plaguing southwest Jacksonville.
That’s the part of town that includes busy roads like Collins Road and 103rd Street. Both of those corridors have seen multiple murders of young men in just the past few weeks.
News4JAX has documented eight fatal shootings in the area since the beginning of February. On Monday, police announced an arrest in one of the cases. Amin Sullivan, 25, has been charged with manslaughter in the shooting death of a 15-year-old over the weekend on 103rd Street.
Newx4JAX spoke with residents who live in the area. Many have only moved to the area in the past 10 to 15 years.
“That’s very scary. I really felt safe here,” said resident Andrea McClendon.
One potential contributing factor to the crime, according to a councilman, is a drug problem along the 103rd Street corridor where many of the shootings have happened.
“We knew that area is a challenged area. We have high opioid usage, overdose, there along the 103rd corridor. That’s known throughout the city. This is a hotspot,” said City Councilman Garrett Dennis, whose district runs through a portion of the area.
Dennis said he’s been in touch with the zone commander at JSO over the crime spike.
“One of the things that I’ve been doing is talking with the sheriff, talking with the zone commander. They’ve committed to deploying more resources in that area,” Dennis said.
News4JAX also heard from JSO.
“The areas in which you speak of have had multiple incidents in past weeks, and Detectives in our Homicide and Violent Crimes Units continue to work diligently to solve these cases. Assigned patrol officers continue to maintain a presence in these areas as well, in an effort to curtail future violence,” a JSO spokesman said in a statement. “We would always ask that citizens with information in regard to these or any other cases call 904-630-0500 or email JSOCrimeTips@jaxsheriff.org.”