JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office is investigating a rash of overnight shootings at five different locations.
One of them involved a two-year-old child. The toddler is expected to be okay, but the shooting in the normally quiet Arlington Hills area is sending shockwaves through the community.
"Even at nighttime, people are jogging, walking their dogs," neighbor Dzejla Hamzagic said.
Dzejla Hamzagic said her neighborhood is typically safe and peaceful.
"It was shocking because it's pretty close to home, and also I have a three-year-old nephew. It's right around the corner," Hamzagic said. "It really didn't sit well with me because with this neighborhood it's not something very common or that I would think would happen like that, especially in this quiet neighborhood."
Crime scene taped closed off the street along the 7500 block of International Village Drive in Arlington early Thursday morning.
Police said the shooting happened inside the home, and they're not sure if the toddler or someone else fired the gun.
"You can't just say, 'Well, we left it out, and we're sorry that we did that. It's tragic it happened.' You can't look at it that way. We have too many of these since the beginning of the year," Mark Baughman said.
First Coast News crime and safety expert Mark Baughman said more than a dozen kids under the age of 15 have been shot in Duval County in 2021.
"Somebody has to be held accountable for that weapon being discharged in that house and somebody being injured resultant of that," Baughman said. "The family could potentially face negligent discharge or child neglect charges."
The four other overnight shooting locations didn't involve children. They were on Buckman Street, East 31st Street, West 29th Street, and West 12th Street.
Baughman urges gun owners to be responsible.
"Usually every dealer gives you a gun lock, so why not use it," Baughman said.
Duval County has had at least 279 shootings this year and 13 in September, two of which involved kids.
Duval County had 554 shootings in 2020 and 389 in 2019.
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