JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A man was arrested Monday in the shooting of a teenager who was riding in a car, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
Officers said they responded around 5:50 a.m. to conduct a welfare check on 103rd Street near La Ventura Drive, just west of Interstate 295. When they arrived, they said, they found a Ford Fusion that appeared to have been damaged by gunfire and then a man came up to them and said he had been involved in a shooting with that car.
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Several hours later, according to JSO, a 15-year-old boy checked into a hospital with a gunshot wound to his thigh. Police described the teenager’s injuries as non-life-threatening.
On Tuesday, News4JAX obtained an arrest report that identified the man with knowledge of the shooting who approached police as Michael Byers.
According to the report, the shooting actually took place while the Fusion was traveling on I-295. The report states that the 15-year-old and other teens in the car had gone to a Westside location and quickly left, being chased by a Chevrolet Impala.
When police located the car that had been shot up, according to the report, that’s when Byers went to the scene and gave permission for police to search the Impala, where they found a 9-millimeter handgun.
Byers was taken to JSO for an interview and made statements, which were redacted from the report.
Byers, 34, of Jacksonville, was then arrested on a charge of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon in connection with the shooting, according to the report.
It was one of two shootings that JSO was called to investigate on Labor Day. In the Brentwood area, according to JSO, a woman died and a man was hospitalized in critical condition after a shooting.
And according to News4JAX records, 10 people were shot in the first five days of September, four of whom died. By our count, 292 people have been shot this year. Last year at this time, that number was 310.
Editor’s note: JSO said at a news briefing Monday that the boy who was shot was 16 years old, but the arrest report for the suspect shows the boy 15-year-old.