JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The family of a former Jacksonville high school football player who died in a double shooting in Grand Park Friday is calling for unity from the community and for anyone with information to come forward.
Antoinette Roberts, the mother of 18-year-old Malik Brown, said during a news conference Monday that before her son was killed, she had plans to order him a laptop to use for class at Warner University in Lake Wales, Fla. He attended the school on a football scholarship and had just become a father to a 1-month-old baby girl, according to family.
"I was sitting there talking to my son and he was telling us about his next semester and that he had a night class and online class," Roberts said. "I was about to order him a laptop to get sent to him so he could pick it up. I always order him food or groceries and he'd go pick it up down there. And I can't do that. My son's stuff is packed and ready to go back down to Warner. I don't wish this on nobody."
Brown was a former football player at Robert E. Lee High School. He was visiting Jacksonville during his university's winter break when police said he was killed at an apartment complex in the 2100 block of West 12th Street. The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said the shooting may have stemmed from a robbery.
"They took my son away," was all Brown's father, Maurice Brown, could say as he choked back tears.
The family's attorney, Marwan Porter says his law firm, The Cochran Firm, plans to invest revenue into Jacksonville communities in need in order to curb crime and provide opportunity.
"It hurts and it needs to stop, and the way it's going to stop is not by using a whole bunch of fancy phrases or bad buzz words," he said. "The way it's going to stop is by implementing a plan ... We are going to infuse money, we're going to infuse resources into this community to create programming, to create mentorship, to create opportunity and guidance for all of you."
Brittany Herndon, who is employed with the firm, is also related to Brown and wants anyone with information to help bring closure to the family.
"If anybody knows anything, anything at all, any leads or any witnesses, please come forward," she said. "Please say something. We have to make the people who are responsible for the violence in this community held accountable."
If you have any information about this shooting, call the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office at 904-630-0500. To remain anonymous and to be eligible for a reward, call Crime Stoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS.
