JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Neighbors were surrounded by empty shell casings and left feeling rattled after shots were fired early Monday morning in a westside neighborhood.
The apparent drive-by shooting was caught on a neighbor’s doorbell camera near Jammes Road. The shots rang out around 2 a.m.
One man told News4JAX the gunshots that sounded like fireworks woke him up from his sleep. Other neighbors said they felt nervous because the crime in their part of town continues to worsen.
Back in April, there was a deadly shooting at the Palm Trace Apartments, which is less than a mile from where the drive-by shooting occurred.
The video appears to show a car driving down Jammes Road and someone inside shooting. A second car then appears and a person can be seen opening their door a shooting out of the car window towards the other car.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said it did not receive any calls for service for the incident, but News4JAX did speak to Jacksonville sheriff candidates about the issue of violence in the area.
JSO told Sheriff Candidate Wayne Clark that officers have not been to the scene, as of Monday afternoon.
“While no victims showed up at the hospital there should’ve been an investigation at the scene for bullet casings,” Clark said.
Candidate Ken Jefferson said drive-by shootings can be dangerous for neighbors as well.
“When they fire those guns those bullets don’t have a name on them they can go anywhere they can ricochet they can get innocent victims I’ve responded to so many incidents where innocent bystanders were killed,” Jefferson said.
Lakesha Burton, who is also running for Jacksonville sheriff, said everyone needs to work together.
“We need our community to work with us so we can identify these individuals who are quite frankly driving around our city like it’s the wild, wild west this violence is louder than the people,” said Burton.
Sheriff Candidate Tony Cummings also released a statement to News4Jax about the violence in the city and said, “These shootings are a public health crisis and should be treated as such. Our city leaders must move with a sense of urgency to address this crisis before more innocent lives are needlessly taken.”