JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office is still investigating a deadly shooting that left two dead, including a 24-year-old man and a 14-year-old boy.
The family of the teen has asked not to release the name and First Coast News chose to honor that request.
Police said a fight started then gunshots rang out near the Elizabeth Powell Park around 7 p.m. on Thursday night.
Two other people were also shot and are expected to recover. Police have not identified the shooters.
Neighbor Cecil Williams said, unfortunately, life is not the way it used to be when he was growing up. Williams said he fell to the floor for cover at the side of his house when he heard about a dozen shots from across the street.
“Everybody want to shoot it out, so that’s the young fellas," Williams said. "That’s the generation we live in now, everybody just want to shoot it."
Caution tape remained across the street Friday morning along with with damage from a few stray bullets at a nearby home.
“It’s sad to see the little 14-year-old boy got hung up in that thing," Williams said. "He should’ve been almost home at fourteen years old."
Williams has a message for all parents around Jacksonville.
"Parents not raising their kids no more, teaching them about respecting other people’s stuff," he said. "First thing, you’re disrespecting me, you disrespect somebody then they want to go back and get the gun. So if the parents don’t raise the kids and teach them nothing, they go out on their own and do anything.”
The family of 24-year-old Titus Mobley, who leaves behind a 2-year-old daughter, has a different take. Titus’s uncle is left asking why law enforcement doesn’t do random checks for weapons like he remembers when he was younger.
“You turn a corner, the police sit right there and they stop every 10 cars and check them," he recalled. "What happened to them days? It costs the city more money, but it saved more lives."
JSO still doesn’t know where the fatal shots came from.
Anyone with information is encouraged to contact JSO at 904-630-0500 or call CrimeStoppers at (866) 845-TIPS.