JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- It's an alarming new trend in the River City. Violent crime is down but crimes involving guns are up.
"That is definitely a concern for all of us and it is something we are seeing every day," said Melissa Bujeda of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.
Tuesday, Action News uncovered a stack of police reports. None of them were serious in nature, but a gun was involved in all of them.
"It's two people that know each other and she's pointing a gun because they're dating the same man," said Bujeda of one incident. "They're situations where people used to use words and sometimes fists over and now they're pulling out guns."
And in another report, it says robbery suspects put a victim in a headlock then struck him twice on the head with a gun.
It's enough to have the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office on alert. They're digging deeper for us to figure out the hard numbers. In the meantime, Bujeda says they've started the gun bounty program. You can be rewarded over $1,000 for reporting someone who owns a gun that shouldn't, or uses one to commit a crime.
"We're offering that money. Crime Stoppers is on board with us and we want to get these guns off the street," she said.
Police say another big problem is those carrying firearms are getting more bold. They're noticing those who have one are now more likely to fire it.
