JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville Council members are speaking out after a violent robbery at Fore Score Golf Tavern in San Marco.
The crime happened Sunday night when someone entered the business and stabbed an employee.
LeAnna Cumber — the council member who is over that district — said the violent robbery that occurred at the business is uncommon for the area and that cracking down on crime in other areas will help, saying that’s where the crime originates from.
“It’s always awful when you hear crimes happening and it’s something that is so random and particularly violent,” Cumber said.
According to police, just before 7:30 p.m., a man walked into Fore Score Golf Tavern in the San Marco Square shopping plaza on Atlantic Boulevard and headed towards the hostess stand. Police said he tried to steal one of the employee’s wallets.
Another employee confronted the man after the robbery attempt, according to JSO. During that confrontation, the man threatened the employees and demanded more money from the business, JSO said.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said the man pulled out a knife, stabbed the employee and ran away. It’s a crime many business owners and shoppers told News4Jax disturbed and concerned them.
News4Jax looked at a JSO’s crime mapping tool and found that from July to now there were 86 crimes committed in a half-mile radius surrounding Fore Score. The top three were theft, car break-ins, and assault.
Cumber said to curb those crimes — focusing on ones happening in areas surrounding San Marco that trickle in need to be addressed. To do this, Cumber said boards like the Public Nuisance Abatement Board need to be used more.
“Like drug dealing and stolen goods and sex trafficking and then there are children living there and instead of allowing them to continue to flourish,” Cumber said. “It will force the businesses to either make their businesses safer and not allow that to happen or be forced to sell.”
Having more enforcement in high crime areas to help reduce it across the city is one that at-large council member Matt Carlucci agrees with.
“This is county-wide and we are all involved in it together and there’s no one magic solution to this issue,” Carlucci said. “And so reaching out beyond our borders is important….(butt together) 5:49 encompassing Duval County all 840 miles of it.”
Cumber said she believes the Abatement board will be used more in the coming future and that it will not only benefit San Marco but the whole city.