JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A man has been arrested and accused in a deadly stabbing that happened right outside the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office pre-trial detention facility.
Brady Robinson, 49, is charged with second-degree murder after a security guard’s quick actions on Saturday night helped lead to his arrest. That guard, who was assigned to the front desk, was inside JSO’s headquarters when he saw the fight. He then ran out from the entrance and held the suspect at bay with a Taser, according to the arrest report.
Prayers are now being offered for the victim, Arthur Bell, in posts on Facebook.
According to an arrest report, witnesses said both men were arguing and then started fist-fighting. Bell then ran away while Robinson did something that is redacted in the report.
Bell then ran to the Police Memorial Building entrance and the guard working the desk on the inside saw the fight, came out, pulled his Taser and told Robinson to get on the ground.
The officer then called for JFRD to help a “stabbed individual.”
Bell was taken to UF Health with life-threatening injuries, according to the report.
Police said both men were unhoused. Some may disregard the story because of this fact, but councilmember Jimmy Peluso, who represents the downtown district, takes the stance that we are all neighbors.
“This is a tragedy. No one should be experiencing that kind of violence, let alone those that are unhoused,” Peluso told News4JAX. “We as a city need to realize we need to be the Good Samaritan, we can’t just walk by and say, Oh, that’s their lot in life. No, we have an opportunity now more than ever, to actually say, let’s help lift you up. And let’s create a better city for it.”
Peluso said the city doesn’t have dedicated funding for those who are unhoused. But he plans to push for programs to create a homeless trust to combat the lack of affordable housing.
“That is becoming more difficult to rapidly find housing that people can afford,” said Dawn Gilman, CEO of Changing Homelessness.
Gilman said the stabbing was unusual, but not unheard of. But there is a solution.
“The best thing that we can provide a person in that in a homeless situation is a door that can lock,” she said.
When the next budget comes around city leaders want to introduce the idea of more funding for more shelter for the unhoused. Leaders said it’s working well in Miami-Dade County, so much so they say there are no more homeless veterans in that area.