JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Tanika and Marlon McMillian are a young married couple who just moved to town from Virginia, and now they're probably going to have to move again.
"They told us it's horrible and we might want to start looking for another place to go," said Tanika quoting the team of police and municipal code compliance officers who inspected her apartment in the Shannon Ridge complex off Shenandoah Avenue on Tuesday.
Turns out, according to police, this is one of the most visited spots by authorities in Jacksonville. JSO had a total of 594 calls to police for service just last year.
An investigation of the complex by the Drug Abatement Response Team (DART) on Tuesday resulted in the city condemning 8 of the 12 in habited buildings.
According to Monica Landeros, a spokeswoman with the city, the reasons included damaged and deteriorating wiring, illegal wiring/electricity, a lack of smoke detectors, unsafe and unsanitary conditions, even bats.
So, who is responsible for this mess?
When Action News tried to get answers from the property manager on site she refused to answer any of our questions about the findings. But we did some digging and found out the property is owned by American Management Group. They have an office here in Northeast Florida. But voicemails left there late in the day on Tuesday were not returned.
This certainly was not comforting to the dozens of people, including the McMillians, who are now left without a safe place to sleep.
"We have to start looking for a place to go, really start looking for a place to go. We have to leave," said McMillian.
The city has set up a temporary shelter at the Legends Community Center at 5130 Soutel Drive for any displaced residents. According to the city, they will be able to apply for assistance for a deposit or utilities at another residence. It remains unknown if the apartment complex's management group will be held responsible for reimbursing the city for that expense.
Police did make two arrests at the apartment complex on Tuesday for outstanding warrants for unrelated charges. But when Action News asked police if the owners of the complex could face any charges we were told no. JSO spokeswoman Melissa Bujeda says, "You cannot get arrested for code violations. They are civil, not criminal."
The Duval County Health Department did confirm one of the residents at Shannon Ridge Apartments had noninfectious tuberculosis. DCHD made TB screenings available to residents and staff who desired to be tested.
