Jacksonville Beach shootings: Police identify man killed, release description of suspects
The Jacksonville Beach Police Department on Tuesday afternoon released more information in the investigation into the three shootings in Jacksonville Beach that happened on Sunday night, leaving 1 person dead and three injured.
In a news release, JBPD released the following updates on the first shooting, which injured three people and happened at 7:49 p.m. near the boardwalk and the Best Western.
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Two of the people who were shot were taken to Memorial Hospital and one person took himself to Mayo Clinic ER. He was later transferred to UF Health Jacksonville for further treatment of his injuries.
Police said in the news release that this is the only suspect information available at this time in the first shooting: “Three young black male suspects, wearing dark-colored clothing, two armed with handguns and one with a rifle or AR-type pistol. There are various accounts of what direction the suspects fled. We believe this is due to the volume of gunfire and number of people in the area at the time of the incident.”
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JBPD did not release any additional information Tuesday on the second shooting, which happened around 8:13 p.m. in the parking lot outside the Ritz Bar. A suspect in a ski mask opened fire before dumping the pistol, which was recovered by police. No one was injured in this shooting.
In the news release, police identified the man killed in the third shooting, which happened at 8:31 p.m. in the parking lot of Sneakers Sports Grille:
21-year-old James Jones III was taken to Memorial Hospital, where he later died from his injuries after being shot in the Sneakers parking lot.
Police released the following suspect description in the news release: “a tall thin black male with a thin beard or facial hair, wearing dark colored clothing. The suspect fled Southwest from the scene after shooting the victim.”
JBPD said on the city’s closed circuit TV system, “numerous people were observed in the parking lot at the time of the shooting.”
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JBPD said the city’s CCTV system was going through an upgrade on Sunday during the shooting, and some cameras were down, but “fortunately both shooting scenes resulting in injuries were captured by the CCTV camera system.”
Investigators are currently reviewing the video “to produce images suitable for release.” Once those images are ready, JBPD said it will be asking for the public’s help in identifying people.
JBPD also said it is working on releasing 911 calls that were made during the shootings.
Anyone with any information on any of the shootings is asked to contact JBPD at 904-270-1661. JBPD said a link where videos can be uploaded confidentially is being established and will be released as soon as possible.
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