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Parents say they ‘feel like no place is safe,' after triple shooting on Southside

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Police are looking for answers after a triple shooting near a middle school on the Southside.

One person is dead and two people are still in critical condition.

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Several parents and local activists are fed up with the gun violence in the city.

Related: Sans Souci triple shooting: Man killed in parking lot of Lovelace Park, police say

“Now parks are becoming crime scenes. That’s crazy,” Kimberly Detorres said. Her daughter plays in the band at Southside Middle School, just 800 feet from Lovelace Park, where the shooting took place.

JSO tells Action News Jax that neighbors called 911 to report gunfire at the park around 2 a.m. Saturday. Police found three people who were shot — two men and one woman.

“It’s the Southside,” Detorres said. “You don’t hear about a lot of shootings on the Southside.”

Police spent all of Saturday at the park collecting evidence, both on Barnes Street and in the parking lot. They said whoever did this crashed into a car before speeding off. JSO is looking for a white or silver Chevy Avalanche in relation to the shooting. It was seen driving off with three to four people in it.

Sheryl Jackson is no stranger to crime in Moncrief, about 10 miles away from the triple shooting.

“Every day. Every day,” Sheryl Jackson said. “You can’t even wake up and look at a decent movie on TV, unless somebody got murdered.”

Jackson and other activist groups were out in their neighborhood Saturday, holding signs and knocking on doors. They were advocating against violence, not just in their area, but all over Jacksonville.

Tyronne Austin is trying to keep the faith.

“We go by and pray with them in hopes that we can stop some of the murders and some of the things that are going on the streets,” Austin said.

In the last week, there have been 11 shooting and 14 victims in Jacksonville. Three of those shootings were on the Southside.

Detorres said the Southside needs a stronger police presence.

“I think a little bit more patrol cars possibly. Especially now on this side.”

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