2023 homicides: 157 people die amid Jacksonville's turbulent culture following 168 in 2022

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story will be updated slightly throughout the year as developments are made in the investigations.

Angela Carr, AJ Laguerre Jr. and Jerrald Gallion were gunned down in what's been documented as an orchestrated hate crime at a Jacksonville Dollar General store. They were 52, 19 and 29 years old, respectively.

Paige Pringle and Tara Baker suffered their fates at a Hendricks Avenue railroad crossing, one stopped in her car and the other on her bicycle when a stranger opened fire. They were 28 and 53.

Kae’Lynn Matthews was only 3 when she fell prey to gunfire during a dispute that saw Jaquann Mitchell, 23, and Keonte Johnson, 24, killed at the JTB Apartments on A.C. Skinner Parkway. One other was hospitalized.

Just four days later, 6-year-old Mi’King Sims took a fatal bullet while asleep that also struck a 12-year-old girl in their Hollybrook Homes apartment on King Street. Another man, 29, also was wounded.

Kae'Lynn and Mi'King: Child deaths devastating: $13,000 rewards offered in recent Jacksonville cases

The first two cases were resolved by suicide, while the other two remain without a murder arrest.

Whether it involves drugs, gangs, robberies, domestic relations or some other conflict or mental health issue, violence does not discriminate between race, gender or age. And in 2023, the homicide death toll in Jacksonville reached at least 150 (unofficially 157) for the fourth time in the last five years after not exceeding that amount in more than a decade. However, the killings declined 6.5% from last year's 168.

The Times-Union requested a yearend interview with Sheriff T.K. Waters from Dec. 20 to Jan. 3, at his convenience, to discuss what has worked and hasn't worked to minimize the violence and what changes he intends to make in the new year. The sheriff, who has repeatedly pledged transparency and holding criminals accountable throughout his first year in office, declined.

"Sheriff Waters intends to hold a media briefing in reference to the below [the T-U's request] in early to mid-January. Any questions for the sheriff would be best suited for this briefing," a spokesman said after the first request on Dec. 20.

The Times-Union followed up with another request on Jan. 2 advising its story will be running before then but received a similar response.

Here's a breakdown of the Times-Union's findings on what has been the norm in Jacksonville.

Century mark

The city eclipsed 100 homicides for the 12th straight year. It also marked the eighth straight year with at least 120. In the last decade, Jacksonville has lost 1,415 lives as a result of homicides. That's an average of about 141 a year and a person killed every two to three days. The high since The Florida Times-Union began keeping track in 2003 was 2020's 177 by far, and the low — also by far — was 86 in 2011.

Deadliest and safest ZIP codes

The 32209 ZIP code in the Moncrief/Grand Park area easily maintained its spot as the most dangerous place to live in Jacksonville with 30 homicides, well above last year's 20. It finished ahead of the 14 in 32210 on the Westside and 12 in 32208 below the Trout River. Several had zero: 32212, 32220, 32223, 32224, 32227, 32228 and 32234.

Deadliest part of town: 32209 ZIP code proves to be Jacksonville's killing fields year after year

The totals do not include the out-of-jurisdiction Beaches communities, which had two combined.

Age of victims

Much like 2022 when 50 of the people killed were 21 to 30 years old, that was the most vulnerable age range in 2023 with 54 deaths. Next was 31 to 40 years old with 37 casualties. Young victims 11 to 20 years old made up the third-worst rate with 24 victims, similar to the prior year's 26.

Victims, race and gender

African Americans continued to suffer the most deaths with 129, surpassing 2022’s 124. White victims totaled 24 compared to 38 the previous year. Hispanics, at four homicides, declined from six in 2022. Seventeen of the victims were female, well below the 29 killed in 2022. The males were at 140, up one from the prior year.

Arrests, race and gender

Police made murder or manslaughter arrests in at least 53 cases. Of the 64 suspects, there were 42 Black males, six Black females, 10 white males, two white females and four Hispanic males.

Fatal police shootings

Officers killed eight suspects, four Black men and four white. That's the same as the eight killed in 2022, seven Black and one white. Four others survived 2023 police shootings and one more was killed but out of jurisdiction in Orange Park.

Justifiable

Several cases have yet to be ruled on, but 10 have been deemed justifiable such as self-defense. In the previous year 25 homicides also were ruled justifiable, and there was one excusable and one accidental.

Cause of death

Shootings were responsible for 123 homicides (not counting police shootings), followed by 12 stabbings, six beatings and eight with no cause provided. That compares to 131 shooting homicides in 20212, 10 stabbings, nine beatings, two stranglings, one person run over by a car, one child burned/neglected and six with no cause provided.

There were four murder-suicides in 2022 (and one more in Jacksonville Beach), compared to two in 2021. Cases that involved some form of domestic relations fell to 20 from 25 the previous year.

Worst and best months

September topped the calendar year with 18 homicides followed by 16 each in January and October. The year before saw 16 people killed in the worst month July and another 15 each in April, September and October.

June was the safest month at only six deaths, while the previous year was February with nine killings.

About this data

As a footnote, the Times-Union’s numbers may vary somewhat from the Sheriff’s Office due to some procedural differences. The Sheriff's Office's 2023 numbers include one that happened Dec. 31, 2022, with the victim dying on June 9 of this year. The Times-Union has consistently listed these when the violence occurred so counts this one for 2022.

Homicides in the Beaches municipalities are also not counted by the newspaper, although sometimes the Sheriff's Office does when it has been asked to handle the investigation. In this case, the only two homicides in Jacksonville Beach are not included.

The other terminology to note is the difference between a homicide and a murder: They are not interchangeable. Murders do not include justifiable actions such as self-defense or just cause; homicides do. So homicide numbers will always be higher than the murder totals that law enforcement agencies include in their Uniform Crime Reporting to the FBI.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville homicides drop but again exceed the 150 mark in 2023