KEYSTONE HEIGHTS, Fla. — As one man continues recovering from a triple-shooting that happened New Year’s Eve in Keystone Heights, a cousin of one of the other two deceased victims is speaking with First Coast News.
Cortney Dukes, whose 29-year-old cousin Liza Dukes died of a single gunshot to the back, says Liza Dukes was “a good person with an amazing soul.” She also noted that her cousin’s three children, ages about 3, 8 and 11, are left with heartbreak.
“Somebody’s going to have to explain to these three children why their mommy isn’t with them,” Cortney Dukes said by phone from her home in Tennessee, where she moved about a year ago from the First Coast. She added that Liza was her best friend and helped her adjust from a distance to her new life in new surroundings.
“I didn’t have any friends, I didn’t have anybody," Cortney Dukes said, "so I would call Liza. I would FaceTime her or video call her, and whenever I was sad she would make me feel better.”
The shooting happened at a home on Lori Loop. Cortney Dukes said she knows little about what actually happened.
“Honestly I feel like it was a robbery gone wrong," she said. "That’s the only thing I can think of – or an altercation gone wrong. I was told that when all this happened, they were outside and one thing led to another, and the guy just started shooting.”
Whatever led to the shooting, Liza Dukes’ boyfriend, Shayne Wooten, took a bullet to the stomach and, according to Cortney Dukes, is expected to survive. But she speculated that Wooten will suffer invisible scars.
“I mean, who would be able to be mentally okay after losing their parent and then their significant other?” she asked.
Wooten’s father, James Wooten, was also shot in the incident and died Thursday.
Several hours after the shooting, police arrested 22-year-old Taylor Ryan Hill of Jacksonville and 20-year-old Victoria Scifo. According to the arrest report, Scifo lives in Woburn, Mass.
According to information from the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, neither has been charged with murder, but Scifo is charged with being an accessory to the fact after a murder. Police also say Hill had a revolver in his possession when they caught up with him hours after the shootings.
Cortney Dukes said she’s unfamiliar with either suspect and not sure whether Liza Dukes knew them.
“The way these people were portrayed, Liza didn’t hang out with people like that,” she said, noting that she believes Hill might be related to the Wootens.
But her focus is on the senseless loss of two people.
“Not only do you take two lives away from this world, you take parents away from babies,” she lamented. “We love Liza, and losing Liza is like losing a piece of my heart. These people don’t realize what they did. And I say ‘people’ because I don’t know who all was involved in shooting her.”
And despite the tragedy for the deceased and loved ones left behind, Cortney Dukes tried to find a glimmer of peace, even while stifling tears.
“I know Liza’s smiling above, smiling down on everyone that loves her, knowing that everything’s OK,” she assured. “And I know that she’s okay.”