JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Karen Simmons regularly visits family members who are laid to rest at Riverside Memorial Cemetery on Jacksonville’s Westside.
Among them is someone she should not have had to bury — her 14-year-old granddaughter, Megan Simmons.
Wednesday marks 11 years since Megan died after someone fired multiple shots into the home where she was staying. Her friend, Jazmine Shelton, 13, was also shot in the attack. Jazmine died at the scene, but Megan died four days later.
“Sometimes it feels like yesterday, because I come out here a lot,” Simmons said. “It’s just a big loss for our family. Something I guess you never get over when you lose a child.”
Megan had been spending the night at the mobile home on Missouri Avenue in Northwest Jacksonville. A Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Cold Case detective, Travis Oliver, Sr., explained Jazmine Shelton had been living at the home with her mother and her mother’s boyfriend.
At the time, he explained the boyfriend’s sister-in-law was also staying there. Det. Oliver said it was a targeted crime, though the girls were not the target.
According to Det. Oliver, before arriving at the shooting scene, one of the officers had been working on a case where an unknown person from the area had been stabbed and was being treated at one of the local hospitals.
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“We would think that the shooting of the trailer was a retaliation from the stabbing,” Oliver said. “The investigation revealed that they had been in a violent altercation between occupants of the residence and a known male in the area. Within hours after that incident, the house was shot up.”
Detective Oliver said the person involved in that incident has never cooperated with investigators regarding the shooting. He said she could be instrumental in solving the case.
With the new school year set to begin in weeks, Megan and Jazmine had planned to go to the beach together the next day. But they never made it. The trailer where the girls died has since been torn down, and a new home stands in its place. Though much has changed, Karen Simmons grieves but also hopes.
“It’s just like I’m waiting for that phone call,” Simmons. “And I hope it will come, I feel like it will. I just feel like it will.”
Until that day comes, Simmons will keep visiting Megan’s gravesite. She wears a special ring showing Megan’s picture. Most importantly, she advocates for justice and remembers the good times she had with her granddaughter. Her favorite memories are dressing up for Halloween, Christmas, and spending time with loved ones. Megan Simmons would be 25 years old if she were alive today.
“She wanted to go to Georgia, she wanted to be a veterinarian, she wanted to sing,” Simmons said. “She wanted to go to American Idol. That was her hope and dreams, but she never made it. I always wonder what her life would be like now.”
In a statement provided to News4JAX, a Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office spokesperson said, “We would continue to ask our community to come forward with any information, no matter what it may be or how trivial it may sound.”
People can reach out to JSO directly or call First Coast Crime Stoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS to be eligible for a reward of up to $3,000.