Man Killed, 7-Year-Old Injured After Shooting at Youth Football Game in Jacksonville

A tragic shooting took place during a youth football game in Arlington, a neighborhood in [...]

By John Newby

A tragic shooting took place during a youth football game in Arlington, a neighborhood in Jacksonville, Florida. Two were injured during the incident — a man and a 7-year-old boy. The man was pronounced dead at the scene while the boy was treated for his injuries.

According to reporter Robert Grant, there were several people in the crowd but only the man and the boy were shot. Authorities said that the suspect pulled up in a grey SUV and then opened fire. The man and the boy were both watching the game when the shooting occurred. The detectives said that they don't believe the incident was a random act and that the suspect potentially targeted the two victims. The detectives described the attacker as a man wearing a hoodie and a mask.

"It's a large public event with multiple people," Lt. JD Stranko said, per Grant. "You can't turn a blind eye to that. We need the people here with information related to that event to come forward." This shooting at youth football was the fourth of the weekend in Arlington.

The shootings in Arlington have continued since the youth football game. One example is a 19-year-old that was shot during a fight at the University Place Apartments on University Boulevard North. Five people were involved in a fight at the apartment complex when someone pulled out a gun and shot the victim in the chest. He was taken to a local hospital to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

According to reporters, a total of eight people have been shot since Oct. 17. The string of incidents began when a 20-year-old man was shot and killed on Arco Drive. An 18-year-old was shot and killed the same day at a strip mall.

A woman shot and wounded at 1100 Arco Drive on Sunday, the same day as the shooting at the football game. The police said that this incident was not related to the previous incident roughly one block away. They labeled this particular shooting as a domestic incident.

Additionally, two men were wounded in a possible drive-by on Wednesday, one day before the shooting at the apartment complex. According to an unofficial tally, there have been 144 homicides in Jacksonville in 2020 alone, and public officials are not happy. "People are just sitting back and saying 'it's not my problem,' but all of this is our problem," Councilwoman Joyce Morgan said following the shooting at the football game.

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