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Action News Jax Investigates: Effect of gun violence on Jacksonville community

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — It’s said that bullets don’t have a name, but when they land, the victims of gun violence do.

Gun violence has taken the lives of many, including that of a toddler and a baby girl’s parents, leaving her an orphan.

“With us, our history shows on our face, the sleepless nights, the hard work, the fun we've had, the wrinkles that’s there,” said Darryl Patterson.

At 22 months old, Aiden McClendon’s life was taken in January.

“When we looked at young Aiden, none of that was there. His face, his skin was just as smooth and clean and clear that meant that he hadn’t had a life yet,” Patterson said.

The bright-eyed toddler with a sweet smile was killed in a drive-by gang shooting.

Aiden’s killing is one of more than a dozen deadly shootings in Jacksonville this year. Patterson and Renaldo Lampkins handled funerals for three of those victims, including Aiden, whose custom casket was just 42 inches long.

In the trauma unit at UF Health Jacksonville, Surgeon Marie Crandall sees the personal cost.

“It’s always devastating,” Crandall said.

Families are broken apart by killings, and our community is left to ask, why?

“I think, one is a lack of structure in the home, it starts at home,” Lampkins said.

“The reality is all they have is the clothes on their back and a reputation and street cred that’s all they got,” Patterson said. “They don’t respect their own lives so they are not going to respect anybody else’s.”

“I think Jax and the communities affected in Jax are similar to communities affected in New Orleans, Detroit, Flint. They’re disenfranchised communities with lower, in general, lower educational opportunities, fewer job opportunities,” Crandall said.

Crandall has devoted her life to studying the root causes of gun violence.

“I think gun violence absolutely is a public health issue,” Crandall said.

Crandall is working to help UF Health Jacksonville bolster community resources and taking a proactive approach to prevention.

“It is definitely a community-wide issue,” said Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams.

In addition to $1 million in overtime from city leaders to put more officers on the street, Williams announced in February that he will bring back the Violent Crimes Task Force and create a new partnership with the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.

“It will provide us with the opportunity to access an information sharing grid of professional law enforcement agencies all around the country cities dealing with the same issue were dealing with,” Williams said.

“Everyone is affected by gun violence,” Crandall said. “Even if you think you’re not.”

Crandall said research also shows that access to guns is another big component in gun violence.  Action News Jax previously reported the problem of illegal and stolen guns being used in crimes in Jacksonville. Sheriff Williams said his new crime fighting effort will also target the problem of illegal guns as well.

There’s a national push right now to get Congress to give the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention federal money to research gun violence, since the funding was restricted about 20 years ago.