Jacksonville's first homicide of 2018 happens 1 hour into new year

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Just an hour into 2018, Jacksonville recorded its first homicide of the new year.

A man was shot in an Arlington driveway during a New Year’s Eve party shortly after 1 a.m.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said about 15 people were at the home on North Gilmore Heights Road in the Caroline Ridge neighborhood.

JSO Sgt. Mark Musser said it appears an argument at the party led to gunshots.

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Musser said the victim was in his 30s.

Neighbors still don’t know whether the killer is at large.

JSO interviewed several people who were at the house during the shooting, but have not said whether any of the partygoers are believed to be the shooter.

“A lot of people around here are shaken up,” said a neighbor who asked not to be identified.

He said he went outside early Monday morning when he saw flashing lights.

“The officers told me to move back because it’s a crime scene. So I moved on back,” the neighbor said.

But not before he saw the body in the driveway.

“This guy was just laying there. No blanket over him or anything, you know?” the neighbor said. “It’s frightening. Especially for the kids. It’s supposed to be a nice neighborhood, come out and raise them. Never had anything in this part of town. It’s pretty upsetting for a lot of people.”

On Monday afternoon, a couple leaving the home where the shooting happened did not answer Action News Jax’s questions.

“It’s unfortunate this is how we had to kick off the year,” next-door neighbor Reinaldo Santiago said.

Santiago came home after a New Year’s Eve party to flashing police lights and caution tape crisscrossing his street.

“And JSO just basically told us, you know, ‘Come back later. Get a coffee or something,’” Santiago said. “It’s a little, you know, terrifying to know that happened right next door.”

According to JSO’s crime mapping system, there have only been three crimes reported within half-mile of the homicide scene within the past month: two car break-ins and a battery with minor injury.

Cox Media Group