JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — On the First Coast over the past two months, there have been at least six separate incidents where shots have been fired into a moving vehicle. Now, city leaders are speaking on about violence on the roadways.
The latest incident happened on Jacksonville's Southside Monday morning. Police say someone fired shots into a red car around 1 a.m. on Southside Boulevard near JTB, killing a man in his 20s. Officers at the scene told First Coast News at least eight people heard the gunshots and called police. No suspect information was immediately available.
Mayor Donna Deegan says addressing gun violence is always a priority but drivers should not be “any more concerned than other cities with similar issues.”
“I don’t think that people in Jacksonville should be any more concerned about this than in other communities where similar things are going on. It’s why we have to discuss how were dealing with gun violence and hopefully be more effective with it," Mayor Deegan.
“We are concerned about gun violence in our community, and we're concerned about road rage in particular, but I don’t think we are any more concerned than JSO is and all the people who are patrolling our roads I know they’re working very hard to reduce and eliminate these incidents," said Mayor Deegan.
Recent string of violence on Jacksonville roadways
The deadly shooting Monday marks at least the sixth time in the last two months where someone was shot while inside a moving vehicle.
Over the weekend, at least seven shots were fired into a car on Interstate 295 near the St. Johns Town Center after what police call "aggressive driving behavior." The driver of the vehicle shot, a man in his mid-20s, was hit with one bullet in the back. His injuries were considered non-life-threatening.
Last week, shots were fired into a car traveling southbound on Interstate 95 in St. Johns County. One person was transported by air to a hospital.
In September, a man was found in a crashed car with gunshot wounds, following reports that two vehicles were shooting at each other near Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway and Haines Street. He was taken to the hospital where he later died.
In mid-August, two men were shot in a car driving on Southside Boulevard north of Baymeadows Road. Police say unknown suspects approached the vehicle and fired multiple shots. The two men were taken to the hospital, both suffering life-threatening injuries.
Again in August, a driver was shot on I-95 near Zoo Parkway. Police say they responded to a car crash and report of shots fired in the area and found the driver deceased. The vehicle had been struck by gunfire.
JSO investigators say they are looking into connections between the incidents.