JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – As the year winds down, the number of homicides in Jacksonville is up significantly from last year, according to News4JAX records.
Our records show it’s a nearly 27% increase this year from last.
It’s an increase one mother of homicide victim says is startling.
“It’s really overwhelming,” said Crystal Anlage.
She says hearing of the increase in homicides is sad because it reminds her of the murder of her son, Jacquez Anlage.
Jacquez Anlage, 20, was fatally shot in October 2020 in Arlington. No arrest has been announced in the case.
“Someone entered my son’s apartment and shot and killed him,” Crystal Anlage said.
She says she lived in Jacksonville all of her life but just moved away from the city a month ago. She says the move was her way of remaining safe and not constantly worrying about death and crime.
According to News4JAX records, there was a decrease in homicides from 2020 to 2021 in the city, but that did not last for long.
| Year | Number of Homicides | Number of murders |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 so far | 165 (26.9% rise) | 127 |
| 2021 | 130 | 109 |
| 2020 | 175 | 140 |
| 2019 | 164 | 134 |
| 2018 | 131 | 110 |
Crystal Anlage says these homicides completely change lives.
“I watch mothers who don’t leave their homes who completely isolate, who just lose their will to live,” she said.
AJ Jordan, the outreach coordinator with the MAD DADS ( Men Against Destruction-Defending Against Drugs and Social-Disorder) Jacksonville Chapter, says hearing of the increase in homicides means the organization has more work to do.
“We have to constantly go out and keep boots on the ground,” Jordan said.
But he says others in the community also have more work to do to get the homicide rate down and make the community safer.
“We need more people out there. We need our city officials to come out more — the sheriff, the mayor, city council — and we just all need to be out there together ... on a consistent continued basis so the community will know that we care,” Jordan said.
Jordan also says he has been in talks with city officials to go throughout all neighborhoods with MAD DADS to let their presence be known and to hopefully help drive home the point that Jacksonville is not a place where this many homicides need to happen.
He says it’s going to take a community approach for homicides and murders to decrease in 2023.