NEPTUNE BEACH, Fla. - A man who lives in the apartment complex near where two men were shot overnight in Neptune Beach says one of the men shot was just taking out the trash.
The shooting happened around 2:40 a.m. outside the Ocean Oaks Apartments, on Seagate Avenue near Penman. Two men were injured, according to Neptune Beach Police.
“2:37 a.m. is when I called 911,” Lawrence Laymon, who lives in the apartment complex, told First Coast News. “I want to say it was like, five shots, and I looked out my window and I saw the car go by. But it was so quick.”
Laymon said moments later, his friend who lives in a unit down the street ran up the steps to his apartment, bleeding from a gunshot wound to his side.
“I applied pressure and I called 911 and I said ‘I need someone here now,’” Laymon said.
Laymon said the friend was breathing and coherent but in “panic mode” as they waited for emergency responders. The friend said he was taking out the trash when gunfire erupted, according to Laymon.
“It could’ve been me,” Laymon said. “Because sometimes I don’t take my trash out like I’m supposed to, I just take it out whenever, that could have been me. Or my kitchen window…that bullet could have come up there and hit me.”
Cole Garza, who also lives in the Ocean Oaks Apartments, said he arrived home early Monday morning to find the road blocked off by police.
“It was really scary to pull up here and have no idea what was going on,” Garza said.
Garza worried big city crime was moving into the small beach community. As a result, he said he’s taking extra precautions like locking doors and being hyper-aware of his surroundings.
“It’s kind of sad, it shouldn’t have to happen. But that’s just how it is,” he said. “We usually keep violence away from the beach but it seems like it’s found its way. Like more gun violence lately.”