One week later, search for Murray Hill mass murder answers continues

Nearly a week has gone by since four people were shot and killed in a Murray Hill home, but the call for answers continues.

“So that we might be able to see justice served and that these arrests are made, getting another criminal off the street,” says Justice Coalition Executive Director Ann Dugger.

The Justice Coalition is currently working with the grandmother of Keshell and Keyonna Brown, sisters who were two of the four victims of this shooting.  Just about a year ago, their mother was killed as well- so the family is now struggling to pay the estimated $7500 needed to bury the young women.

Police, meanwhile, continue to look for answers in to the motive and who is responsible for the shootings, which also killed Gontrell Hagans and Derek Williams. The four were inside a home on Randolph Boulevard late last Thursday.

JSO has not released any new information since the day of the shootings, other than the identity of the victims. Dugger says that means it’s time for the community to step up.

“Many, many times we find out it’s just a little tiny piece that pulls all of this puzzle together,” she says.

Until more people come forward and the person responsible for the shootings is in jail, she says there is still a lot of concern around the community.

“They don’t know where they [the suspect(s)] are at, if they’re coming back, and who they’ll get the next time,” Dugger says.

The Murray Hill homicide isn't the only case in which tips are drying up. Two high-profile murders from over the summer remain unsolved and CrimeStoppers says no one is calling up about them, likely because the idea of snitching keeps many people from picking up the phone because they fear for their own safety or the safety of their family.

"Providing information that's leading to the arrest of somebody for a really heinous type of crime, it should be viewed as a positive," First Coast CrimeStoppers president Bland Cologne tells our partner Action News.

Cologne says in September CrimeStoppers solved 152 cases and handed out over $27,000 in reward money. He says in October, tips went down by 75 percent.

22-year-old Amber Bass was killed in her driveway on the Westside in July. In August, 13-year-old Jazmine Shelton and 14-year-old Megan Simmons were shot and killed in the home they were in on Missouri Ave. in Northwest Jacksonville. Both cases have gone cold, and police are still asking anyone with information to come forward.

If you have any information on the quadruple fatal shooting or any of the aforementioned unsolved homicides, you’re asked to call JSO at 630-0500.

If you wish to help cover the cost of burying the two sisters, you can call the Justice Coalition at 783-6312.