JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – As we wrap up 2023, Jacksonville is in another violent stretch with eight homicides in the last eight days.
It’s been a violent December in Jacksonville with at least three more shootings in the past day, including a murder at the Three Seasons mobile home park on the Westside, a murder at a Spearing Street duplex on the Eastside and a man critically injured outside an apartment on Ken Knight Drive in Northwest Jacksonville.
These are among the hundreds of shootings reported throughout the year. News4JAX records show 416 people were shot in the River City in 2023. That’s similar to the 419 people shot last year and lower than the 438 from 2021 or the 554 people shot in 2020.
The eight homicides since Dec. 22 bring the year’s total to 156, according to News4JAX records. As of now, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office classifies 124 of those as murders. A murder is a deliberate act of killing someone, while a homicide is a lawful or unlawful killing -- it’s a broad term that includes self-defense.
The 2023 numbers are a slight decline from 2022, which had 167 homicides and 134 murders.
Sadly 30 children were among the shooting victims in Jacksonville this year, and nine of them died.
“One incident or one bad, terrible, horrible incident, freak accident with a firearm is too many,” Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said. “So we want to make sure that we can get that message across.”
There were 13 officer-involved shootings in Jacksonville this year. All but one remain under investigation.
Two officers were shot in the line of duty, including 25-year-old Officer Malik Daricaud, who was shot in the neck and is still recovering. He recently shared his brave journey with News4JAX.
“I’m staying in the fight trying to get back to what I was doing before,” Daricaud said, saying he wants to return to duty.
To cut down on crime, JSO has a robust violent crime reduction strategy, which top brass say is working.
Earlier this year, we showed you some of the specialized units aimed at reducing shootings in our special report on Guns, Gangs and Drugs. This includes going after violent groups, interventions with at-risk youth, and targeted prosecution for Duval County’s most dangerous offenders.
JSO said Sheriff Waters will be discussing the 2023 homicide numbers once they’re finalized in the new year.