Call for change rings on following rally for shot at school bus in Hogan’s Creek

Logan MacDonald
·2 min read

Members of Jacksonville’s Hogans Creek community showed up to the University Plaza Apartments Saturday morning to call for change, signs in hand and frustrations high.

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This comes just days after Action News Jax reported a school bus full of children was hit by gunfire at an apartment complex while headed to Young Kids in Motion Academy.

Carole Houston was driving that bus filled with over 30 children, some as young as 5 years old, and told Action News Jax on Saturday the only thought going through her mind when a bullet went flying through her driver-side window.

“Save my babies was the only thing I could think of. I didn’t care about the bus running into the building. I didn’t care,” said Houston. “They’re only babies. They’re our future. It’s just really scary.”

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Although nobody was hurt in the incident, Meltonia Wright, the owner of Young Kids in Motion Academy, told Action News Jax that this points to a larger issue in Jacksonville.

“All the senseless shootings, killings, that are taking place in the city, that has sparked the fire in us,” she said.

Read: JSO: Two suspects arrested in crossfire shooting that hit school bus with kids on board

Now, following Saturday morning’s rally, the call to action remains not just to stop the violence in Jacksonville, but to fix the broken community at the heart of it.

“We have to educate properly. We have to fix the broken family unit and put people back together,” explained Pastor Harry Ford. “It’s proven that when everybody’s a family and everyone’s together, there’s less crime inside of that particular family.”

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has since arrested 23-year-old Nailah Doles and 17-year-old Jayden Mobley in connection to the shooting, with both facing 31 counts of attempted murder.

Read: JSO: Two suspects arrested in crossfire shooting that hit school bus with kids on board

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