JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A community group issued a stern warning on Wednesday: Be very careful if you are attending a funeral or another event for someone killed in a violent crime.
The warning follows a shooting on Tuesday where three people were injured. Witnesses said two shooters opened fire into a crowd of people attending a celebration of life in Northwest Jacksonville for someone who had recently died.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office is still searching for the two shooters.
It’s the second shooting during a service in a month in Jacksonville.
JSO said it’s too early to talk about what happened but its Gang Unit is investigating.
It was around 5 p.m. when the shots rang out while around 100 people were gathered at a celebration of life ceremony near 4th Avenue and Campus Avenue in the Riverview neighborhood. One of the three people hit was a juvenile. JSO said all the injuries are not life-threatening.
It was just a month ago another shooting took place during a similar service in the Moncrief Park area in Northwest Jacksonville. That service was for teen Adrian McKinzie who was shot and killed. At that service, neighbors said a suspicious car was driving in the area and then a woman attending the event was shot in the arm.
That shooting prompted the first warning from Mad Dads about these services for shooting victims. On Wednesday, A.J. Jordan from the group said the latest incident is not a surprise.
“That was definitely a message of intimidation, retaliation for them to come up to a celebration of life like that and just start shooting at 100 people? Yes, they will send a message,” Jordan said. “I think if families, friends want to celebrate their loved ones life has been lost to senseless violence in our city, the should reach out to Mad Dads, they should reach out to us because we have the resources, we have the relationship with JSO so we can get officers out there.”
JSO said the organizers of the event on Tuesday hired armed security guards that returned fire at the suspects before they ran off.
News4JAX reached out to Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters and to some upper staff at JSO about the recent shootings but they did not immediately respond.