JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Four shootings over the weekend left three people dead and several others wounded in a violent lead-up to Christmas week.
Officers with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office are investigating four shootings throughout the city's Westside and urban core neighborhoods.
Pearl Street: 3 people shot, 1 dead
On Pearl Street, a few blocks north of Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway, three people were shot Sunday night while sitting on the front porch of a home, police said.
A woman, identified by a relative as Victoria Wyche, a mother of three, was killed.
Officers believe the shooter is a man who walked by the home with a group of people and got into an argument with the people sitting outside the home.
“Gunshots are the acceptable norm in this community,” neighbor Nahshon Nicks said. “We hear gunshots every night.”
Dennison Street: 2 men shot, 1 injured
Officers arrived around 4:30 p.m. Sunday on Dennison Street, where two men were shot. Another man suffered a non-life-threatening injury but was not shot.
A neighbor who asked not to be identified said one of the men shot is recovering in the hospital.
She said she heard the gunshots and ran to get her children.
Broadway Avenue: Man shot, killed
A couple of hours before that, a man believed to be in his 30s was found shot on a sidewalk along Broadway Avenue, just off North Edgewood Avenue. Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department crews took the gunshot victim to UF Health Jacksonville, where he died.
Several witnesses were interviewed by detectives.
"It was like, ‘Pop, pop, pop, pop,’” witness Hunter Cianteo said of the gunshots.
Homicide detectives said the gunmen haven't been identified, even though it happened in broad daylight with witnesses around.
“They just need to clean this stuff up, you know?” resident Janet Watson said. “People want to be safe. They just want to be able to go home, go to work and come home. That’s it.”
Police said the gunmen may have used a black minivan that was abandoned nearby. Detectives said they found a rifle nearby and police believe it was likely used in the shooting.
"I was up at Mr. Snappers, right there on Broadway, and I just heard about seven gunshots. It’s a shame, so close to Christmas," Cianteo said.
Police said witnesses noticed several people running from the shooting scene at around 12:30 p.m. Sunday.
While News4Jax was on the scene of the Broadway shooting, Jacksonville police cars passed with their sirens on, followed by a couple of ambulance crews. Officials later said two people had been shot and suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Sophia Street: Man shot, killed
Police found a man in his 20s shot multiple times on Sophia Street just after 9 p.m. Saturday. He died at the scene. Police are working to determine the man's identity.
Amanda Delk has lived on Sophia Street since the 1970s and said she's fearful, as crime in her neighborhood is getting worse. She said she thought she heard more than a dozen gunshots Saturday.
“It’s very scary around here,” Delk said. “This neighborhood has gone down so much since I’ve lived here.”
Jacksonville police are looking for several suspects in the daytime shooting death, as well as the one Saturday night.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office at 904-630-0500 or Crime Stoppers at 866-845-TIPS.
Before the weekend's deadly violence, there had been more than 120 homicides so far this year.