One Dead, Three Injured in 3 Separate Shootings in Jacksonville Beach during St. Patrick’s Day Celebrations! No Suspects in Custody!

RISKAlert # 1914 March 18, 2024 Jacksonville Beach, Florida

One person was killed and three others were injured in three unrelated shootings Sunday night during St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in the busy downtown bar district of Jacksonville Beach. Police initially put out a warning of an “active shooter situation” around 8:30 p.m. as they searched for multiple shooters. The area was locked down for hours Sunday night. Police said no arrests have been made.

The next morning, Mayor Christine Hoffman praised the quick response of police and local businesses. Jacksonville Beach Police Chief Gene Paul Smith explained Monday morning that the first shooting was reported at 7:50 p.m., the second incident was around 8:13 p.m. and the third was at 8:31 p.m. Smith called for an “active incident” lockdown of the downtown bar district as officers looked for the shooters and tried to get the crowds to safety.

Smith said because of the increased presence of law enforcement to help with large crowds for St. Patrick’s Day, Spring Break and The Players Championship, officers responded within seconds to each shooting. None of the shooters have been arrested. “I think one of the important points in terms of the timeline of the three distinctly separate shootings was that the response time was little to none on all three of the occurrences. Our officers were there. They anticipated. Our mutual aid partners were here very quickly,” Hoffman said. “We’re an intelligence-based agency here, so they really keep an eye on things on social media and things like that to kind of anticipate the crowds.”

Mayor Hoffman said the three shootings happening on a busy holiday weekend that coincided with the end of The Players Championship placed Jacksonville Beach in the international spotlight. “We are under a bit of a microscope out here because we do not have incidents like that so we’re getting a lot more attention than maybe other areas would,” Hoffman said. She called the senseless violence and tragic loss of life “disappointing and saddening.”

Many businesses in the bar district acted quickly to secure their patrons as police ordered the lockdown. Casey Jones told News4JAX he was at Lynch’s Irish Pub about a block away from the first shooting commotion and had some friends down at Surfer The Bar.? “They were supposed to meet us. It was crazy,” Jones said. “What they said is when it happened that management rushed them up to the second level; they put stuff in the windows. I don’t know what they put in the windows, but it’s really nice that the bars were prepared for this and the way they took care of us.”?????

Smith said the officer assigned to the crowd at the pier began breaking it up around 8 p.m. and that’s when two young men shot at each other on the boardwalk near 2nd Avenue North. Both were wounded and an innocent bystander was also hit.

All three were seriously injured and two were listed as Critical.? Smith said officers witnessed the shooting and immediately tried to catch one of the shooters who ran from the scene and gave medical aid to the injured men.? The shooter who ran off later showed up at a local hospital with a gunshot wound. Smith said that he is listed by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office as a “certified gang member.” The other shooter and bystander were taken to the hospital by rescue units.

Smith said the second incident happened at 8:13 p.m. as a man in a ski mask was seen running past a bar holding a gun and he fired a shot. No one was hit and police later found the gun, Smith said. The third shooting was reported just after 8:30 p.m. in the parking lot of a restaurant at the corner of 1st Street North and Beach Boulevard.

Smith said that witnesses told investigators three men were involved in a “disturbance” and pulled out weapons, but only one fired. A 21-year-old man died at the scene. ?? None of the shooters involved in Sunday night’s incidents are in custody.

Smith said a second weapon and multiple shell casings have been recovered from the scenes. Smith said no officers fired their weapons because they were concerned about the crowd, but they would have, he said, if they thought it was necessary to protect themselves or bystanders.? Again, anyone with information is asked to call the Jacksonville Beach Police Department.?NOTE:?

The Score (above) of 2 is from the FBI Uniform Crime Index.? It means that 98% of ?U.S. Cities are SAFER than Jacksonville Beach.??

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