Neighbors told First Coast News the teen was breaking into a car when the man shot him.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A 14-year-old is in the hospital and a man is in jail, charged with attempted murder, for shooting him in Jacksonville early Thursday morning.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said the shooting could be connected to a string of car burglaries in the Springfield area.
A neighbor told First Coast News she woke up to gunshots and ran out to find the 14-year-old 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 St. 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 car is parked on the street with broken windows covered with blue tarp and a mess inside following the incident.
She said she thinks the man who shot the teen 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.”
The 14-year-old is at UF Health with non-life threatening but “major” injuries to his back.
JSO said they’re still investigating the incident to identify the suspect of the car break-ins in the neighborhood.
