JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A 14-year-old is in the hospital and a man is in jail, charged with attempted murder as he is accused of shooting the teen in Jacksonville in the morning of Oct. 5, 2023.
Anthonio Cobb, 49, is also facing a possession of a firearm by a convicted felon charge, according to his arrest report.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said the shooting could be connected to a string of car burglaries in the Springfield area. JSO says officers responded to 1847 Ionia St. in reference to the shooting, according to Cobb's arrest report. When officers arrived, they found the injured teen identified as Rakeem Whitfield, lying on the sidewalk "with a gunshot wound to the right side of his back at the 8th Street East and Ionia Street intersection," the arrest report states. Police say they also noticed a blood trail at the corner of 9th Street East and Walnut Street, leading east on 9th Street East toward Ionia Street.
Next, the arrest report states that Whitfield was taken to UF Health with non-life-threatening injuries.
Cobb told JSO that he was allegedly awakened by his daughter, Zipporah Iszard, then walked in between his car and his neighbor's, yelled at several unknown males and then said that they ran off on Walnut Street, heading toward 9th Street East, the arrest report states. He also told police that he heard gunshots after the unknown individuals allegedly turned onto 9th Street but, did not see the shooter, JSO says.
Whitfield, who spoke with an officer while at the hospital, explained to them that he heard gunshots and started running and when he was shot, he "blacked out" so, he could not remember exactly what happened, the arrest report states.
Whitfield faces two charges of burglary to a conveyance also from the incident, according to the arrest report.
Another neighbor in the area, who wanted to remain anonymous, told First Coast News she woke up to gunshots and ran out to find Whitfield and two other teenagers in her Hyundai Sonata. She just recently got the car back after it was stolen and said she’s tired of dealing with this.
Neighbors say there have been a string of car break-ins on 8th and Ionia streets over the last several months.
"We're tired of having to watch our cars,” she said. “We're tired of having to live in fear. We're tired of just coming outside and stuff like this is going on. It's ridiculous."
The neighbor's car is parked on the street with broken windows covered with blue tarp and a mess inside following the incident.
She said she thinks Cobb who is accused of shooting Whitfield, should not be in jail because he was "protecting" people who live on the street.
Instead, she believes the teen's parents should be charged and the community should reach out to youth.
"Let's get kickball games going. Throw a cookout in the park,” she said. “Do anything to get these youth together and let them know they don't have to get out here and do this. It's a better way. It's a better life."
In Florida, it's a crime to use deadly force when a person is breaking into a parked, unoccupied vehicle.
One mom of two teen boys who lives nearby said the shooting should have never happened, but she agrees that parents need to be more involved.
"We should do better with guiding our kids and who they hang around,” she said. “Be more engaged with the children and they wouldn't be out here doing these things."
But she said regardless, any items inside a car and the car itself are not worth taking a child's life.
"This stuff we can't take with us,” she said. “Car, money. We can't take none of this stuff with us. It's not worth it."
JSO said they’re still investigating the incident to identify any other person of interests involved in the car break-ins in the neighborhood.