JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. – The Jacksonville Beach Police Department joined with the Federal Bureau of Investigation created a website where the community can upload videos from Sunday’s shootings in the downtown bar district.
The police department said it planned to create the link in hopes that some footage could help assist in the investigation.
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They are asking people to upload any videos or pictures that were recorded around the Best Western Oceanfront on 305 1st Street North, the Boardwalk from 3rd Avenue North to Latham Plaza and along 1st Street North between 7:30 and 8:30 p.m. on Sunday.
Other locations of interest include around Beach Boulevard between 1st Street and SR-A1A and the Sneakers Sports Grille parking lot on 111 Beach Boulevard from 7:45 to 8:45 p.m.
Jacksonville Beach police said the incidents started Sunday with a planned gathering of 250-400 people in their late teens and early 20s under the pier. Jacksonville Beach Police Chief Gene Paul Smith said officers broke up the crowd because it started fighting. The first shooting happened as the crowd separated.
Police identified 21-year-old James Jones III as the man killed in one of the three shootings that Smith said sparked after officers broke up a large crowd because a fight had started.
The first shooting, reported at 7:50 p.m. near a hotel on 1st Street, left three people injured, including the two men who fired at each other, police said. An innocent bystander from out of town was also wounded.
One of the shooters and the bystander were taken to the hospital, and the other shooter, who police identified as a “certified gang member,” took himself to the hospital.
Their current conditions are unknown.
Police have not announced any arrests but said they are looking for three young potential shooters wearing dark clothing and armed with handguns and a rifle or AR-type pistol.
In one of the incidents Sunday, a man wearing a ski mask fired a shot as he ran past a bar on 3rd Avenue. No one was hit and the gun was found later, Jacksonville Beach Police said.
To submit information or videos, visit tips.fbi.gov. There is an option to submit anonymously as well.
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