JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A devoted dad, a beloved mom and a loving teenager were killed in August in a racist shooting attack at a Northwest Jacksonville Dollar General that drew national attention.
A month later, a 3-year-old was among three victims killed in a quadruple shooting connected to the sale of a dog.
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And just four days after that, a 6-year-old was killed in a shooting that also injured his 12-year-old sibling. Sheriff T.K. Waters said a single bullet struck both children while they were sleeping at the Hollybrook Homes Apartments, killing the younger brother.
The stretch of violence drew a strong reaction from Waters.
“One murder is one murder too many. But when innocent children are slaughtered as collateral damage to senseless acts of violence, I can’t stay quiet,” Waters said.
By the end of 2023, 14 juveniles had been killed in Jacksonville with a dozen children or teens touched by deadly gun violence. That included the year’s final homicide: the shooting death of 16-year-old Derek M. Pitts in Mandarin.
That trend, unfortunately, continued into 2024 with the city’s first reported homicide of the new year: the fatal shooting of a 14-year-old in Northwest Jacksonville on Jan. 1.
Jacksonville homicides over last 18 years
Source: News4JAX records
Going down
Overall last year, Jacksonville’s homicide and murder totals decreased by 6% from 2022, following a nationwide trend, although the River City’s homicide dip wasn’t as sharp as some of the major cities.
Nationally, Philadelphia saw the most significant drop in homicides (21%) from 2022 to 2023, while Los Angeles (16%), Chicago (13%) and New York City (11%) also reported homicide decreases, according to a Dec. 26 report from ABC News.
Jacksonville reported 158 homicides in 2023 -- with 126 of those classified as murders. (A murder is a deliberate act of killing someone, while a homicide is a lawful or unlawful killing -- a broader term that includes self-defense.)
RELATED: 8 homicides in 8 days as 2023 comes to violent close in Jacksonville
(Editor’s Note: Our records might differ somewhat from those the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office releases because, for investigative reasons, JSO sometimes includes homicides that did not occur in the calendar year.)
2023 Jacksonville homicides by month
Source: News4JAX and Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office data
Going up
While the news for the nation -- and the River City -- was better overall, one Jacksonville area notorious for violence trended sharply in the opposite direction.
The city’s 32209 ZIP code, which includes the Moncrief, Durkeeville and Grand Park areas of Northwest Jacksonville, reported an increase in homicides from 2022 -- and the jump was considerable: a 32% increase.
The 31 homicides reported in the 32209 area in 2023 account for 20% of all the homicides in the city.
Like the rest of Jacksonville, nearly all the killings in the 32209 neighborhoods involved guns. Citywide, 130 of the 158 homicides were shootings and 12 were stabbings. In another 13 cases, the cause of death hasn’t been released yet.
Violence clusters
Despite a downward trend for most of Jacksonville, the city’s homicides were once again concentrated in just a few neighborhoods -- all of them west of the St. Johns River.
According to News4JAX records, 89 homicides were reported in just six of Jacksonville’s 34 ZIP codes last year -- that’s 56% of the city’s total number of homicides.
The 32206 zone, which includes Brentwood and the Eastside, trended in the opposite direction of 32209 with 12 reported homicides: a 30% decrease from the year before.
The other four ZIP codes where the deadly violence in 2023 was concentrated were:
- 32210 (Westside): 14 homicides
- 32208 (Northwest Jacksonville, Northside): 11
- 32218 (Dinsmore, Oceanway, Northside): 11
- 32244 (Argyle Forest, Westside): 10
The interactive map below includes data provided by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and information collected from sources. NOTE: A Florida Supreme Court ruling on Marsy’s Law in late November changed the way JSO identifies homicide victims.