I just happened to have been in Durkeeville twice yesterday afternoon. Once at 12:30 and then again at 3:30. I was exactly where it happened. West 6th Street, 2 hours too early and one hour too late. Kinda scary.
I spend a lot of my time in Durkeeville, and I really love it. I love the houses -- little shot guns and grand old ladies. I love the ball park and the hole in the wall restaurant with the walk up window offering cheap gumbo.
Word on the street is that a man and a woman were sitting in a car when another car slowly drove up -- man lifted his gun. He aimed and fired into the car 30 times. A clear case of a professional hit in a drug related situation, or so I was told by those who live nearby.
Neither the man driving nor the man in the car are Durkeeville residents. And the woman was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
What I remember, beyond the six blocks of taped off road, was a little girl I saw standing alone on the second story balcony of one of those cinder block quads. She looked to be about 4 -- her fingers in her mouth, barefoot with a great frizz of brown hair. And she was steady staring at the blinking lights of the cop cars.
(http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g374/sheclown2/durkeeville.jpg) (http://s1098.photobucket.com/user/sheclown2/media/durkeeville.jpg.html)
Quote1 dead, 1 wounded as '30' shots fired in another Jacksonville shooting
By Derek Gilliam Tue, Apr 29, 2014 @ 4:37 pm | updated Wed, Apr 30, 2014 @ 9:18 am
In an ongoing outburst of violence, about 30 gunshots erupted along West Sixth Street off Myrtle Avenue about 2 p.m. Tuesday. The gunfire struck a man and a woman who were driving down the street, police said.
http://members.jacksonville.com/news/crime/2014-04-29/story/1-dead-1-wounded-30-shots-fired-another-jacksonville-shooting
I lived in the old Durkeeville Apts from 1987 to 1995. I had fun nostalgic times there as a kid, as well as I did prior while living Brooklyn, NY. For a while, there's been a nice lil' hiatus when the violence wasn't consistently overwhelming. Unfortunately, it's worst than ever in Durkeeville currently. On the corner of MLK & Myrtle, sits brick pillar (as on the Myrtle & Kings area also) they supposed to say 'DURKEEVILLE, except the MLK one says "DURKEE ILLE" as someone stolen the 'V'; That's well read out, because 'Durkee' is very 'ill'.
Violent shootings is a common occurrence in that neighborhood. Many having no regard for civilian life, or the law's. Relatively compact neighborhoods like this is why Jax sometimes gets the so called "Murder Capital of Florida" a title that the negative stat dwellers love to shout out (albeit faulty info IMO). Durkeeville is the Jax epitome of 'black on black' shootings; If they aren't shooting another black civilian/drug dealer there, they are shooting at a cop.