13-year-old dies in drive-by shooting while leaving football tryout, Florida cops say
A 13-year-old was killed and an 11-year-old was wounded when a drive-by shooter fired into an SUV full of boys leaving football tryouts, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office in North Florida.
The 20-year-old football coach who was driving the SUV was also hit by gunfire and is in critical condition, the sheriff’s office said at a press conference.
Identities of the victims have not been released.
The SUV was struck multiple times around 6:20 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 3, officials said.
“Inside the vehicle during the shooting, were five victims ranging from 11 to 20 years old,” the sheriff’s office said.
“Two of these were not injured during the shooting, while three of the victims in the vehicle sustained serious injuries to include a 13 year old that died at the scene.”
The two who escaped injury were ages 14 and 15, officials said.
Detectives said the carload of boys had just left the Legends Center And Gymnasium, less than a mile east of the shooting, where they were trying out for a football team.
“We believe ... the driver of that vehicle was actually one of the coaches for those teams and he was bringing those kids home,” Director Shawn Coarsey said at the press conference.
“The victims were traveling west on Moncrief and they stopped at the intersection of Moncrief and U.S. 1 when unknown subjects shot into that vehicle numerous times.”
There were witnesses to the shooting, including some who called 911, officials said.
A description of the suspect vehicle has not been released, and investigators have not said if the victims are related. It also remains unclear if the victims were specifically targeted.
Sheriff T.K. Waters called the incident frustrating and said detectives still don’t know why the shooting happened.
“To indiscriminately drive by a vehicle and fire shots into it, not knowing who’s inside the vehicle, is uncalled for,” Waters said at the press conference.
“We lost a 13 year old kid ... just going home from football. I ask the community this: Can we please stand together? Can we please fight this problem that we are having in our community?”
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