JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Eleven people were shot in three separate incidents across Duval County over the weekend. The shootings occurred in Jacksonville Beach, the Eastside and Mandarin, resulting in at least one victim with a life-threatening injury.
The violence began Saturday night near a music festival and continued through Sunday morning. While Jacksonville police have made arrests in the Mandarin shooting, suspects remain at large in the Jacksonville Beach and Eastside cases.
The first shooting occurred Saturday night near the Community First Seawalk Music Festival in Jacksonville Beach. Five people were shot, including one minor, after a fight among a group of teenagers escalated into gunfire.
Jacksonville Beach police described the incident as part of a “teen takeover” and believe there may have been more than one shooter. All five victims sustained injuries that are considered non-life-threatening, police said.
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A second shooting took place early Sunday morning on Jacksonville’s Eastside. Four people were shot during a party. Investigators stated that the four victims are in non-life-threatening condition. Police are still searching for a suspect in that case.
Neighbors said the shooting isn’t normal for “Out East.”
“I haven’t seen anything like this happening or heard anything like this happening here in years, so yeah, definitely out of character,” said Robert Phelps, who attends the nearby First Baptist Church of Oakland. “I mean, they always have gatherings every night.”
The third shooting happened Sunday in Mandarin, where two people were found shot in separate locations. One person was discovered with life-threatening injuries in a Lowe’s parking lot on Oldfield Crossing Drive. A second person was found shot in his car miles away at the intersection of Old St. Augustine Road and Bartram Park Boulevard.
Penny Divine was shopping at the Mandarin Lowe’s with her mother when the shooting began. She said she initially mistook the sound of the shots for a car backfiring.
“My mom and I walked over here to get a shopping cart for the dog ... I heard something that sounded like backfire and basically there was like a few people, but a guy was running toward us and I didn’t know it was gunfire until I saw him fall,” Divine said. “He was running across, but he turned back and when he fell, he appeared to be shooting back and so I told my mom, who is 80, to run.”
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