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COLD CASE: JSO looking for tips regarding 2 children struck by gunfire during sleepover in 2013

Two young girls having a sleepover on the Westside were caught in a vicious revenge shooting leaving both of them dead. The case remains unsolved.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The scene was shocking and the crime, unconscionable.

Two innocent children dead, 13-year-old Jazmine Shelton and 14-year-old Megan Simmons. It was a crime that shocked the Jacksonville community. 

It was the morning of Aug. 10, 2013.

Megan's aunt, Neta Sessions Owens, says the two girls had been friends for years.

"She [Megan] was spending the night over at Jazmine's house and they were supposed go to the beach the next day," explains Owens," And that never happened."

Around 4:30 a.m., gunfire was unleashed on the Missouri Avenue home. 

"There were multiple gunshots, multiple shooters," said Detective Travis Oliver with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. 

Oliver was a part of the homicide unit called to the scene that morning in 2013. He now works in the cold case unit at JSO.

"Someone in the trailer was definitely the target," he said. "However, I don't feel that someone was Jazmine or Megan."

He says not long before the shooting, there was a report of a stabbing not far away.

"A known person that was known to the occupants of the trailer had been stabbed and was in a local hospital being treated for his injuries," he explained. "We have reason to believe one of the occupants of the trailer returned back to the trailer after the stabbing occurred and the shooting into the trailer was retaliation for the stabbing itself."

Oliver says there were more than 20 bullets that hit the home, but upwards of 40 rounds fired. He says Megan was laying on the couch underneath the window and something had awoken Jazmine, she was walking toward the door when rounds were fired through the door and side of the trailer.  Jazmine died on scene, Megan was taken to the hospital where she died four days later. 

Two girls who had their whole lives ahead of them.

Jazmine described as a girl who loved bowling, animals and being with her friends. Neta Sessions Owens says her niece, Megan, loved her family and loved to sing and dreamed of being on American Idol one day. But she never got that chance.

"I wish some people would put themselves in our shoes with how we feel at holidays and birthdays, special events," says Owens. "There is always going to be an empty seat at our table."

Det. Oliver says though the case may be cold, it is not closed and he continues to work finding new leads.

"The key to any case we are investigating is eye witnesses. We need someone with information to come forward," he says. 

He says even what seems like small pieces of information could solve this case, something Neta and her family prays for daily. 

"We can fit the pieces of the puzzle together and you might be the missing piece," said Owens.

If you know anything about the murders of Jazmine Shelton and Megan Simmons, call Crime Stoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS(8477).

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