Action News Jax heard from the family of Corey December, who they say was shot and killed Wednesday night at a mall in Jacksonville’s Paxon neighborhood.
We first reported the shooting as breaking news less than two hours after the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said police responded to the mall.
JSO said two men were found shot in a shopping center parking lot at the intersection of Edgewood and Broadway avenues around 8:10 p.m. JSO tells us one of the men was killed and the other was taken to hospital, where he is expected to recover.
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Denmark’s family said they’re not sure how or why he ended up at the mall, but they told CNN they’re numb to the loss and still unsure how to process it.
“We couldn’t believe it,” said Denmark’s sister, Natasha Hughes. “He wasn’t coming home. It was over.”
Hughes said Denmark is the third sibling she has lost in the past three years. She said her sister, Stacey, died of cancer last year, and her brother, Tony, died of gun violence in Jacksonville in 2022.
Hughes is still trying to cope with the loss of another brother.
“[Corey] “He was a loving man who would give you the shirt off his back,” Hughes said. “He made your day brighter. When you were having a bad day, he would walk around and you couldn’t do anything but laugh or dance.”
JSO is still investigating what led up to the shooting. We contacted JSO to ask if there were any updates on the case, including if any suspects had been identified or arrested, but we were told there are no further updates at this time.
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In addition to the shootings, Action News Jax has learned that JSO has been called to Paxon Mall more than 100 times this year. At least five of the calls involved assaults and disputes involving weapons.
Since 2020, Jax has tracked seven shootings at or near the mall. In a statement, JSO told us it “will continue to frequent the area and make further deployments at shopping centers where necessary to mitigate any nuisance/criminal behaviour.”
Hughes believes whoever shot her brother is responsible for his death, but she hopes more can be done to prevent future gun violence in the area.
“In this case, today it’s our family, tomorrow it could be your family,” Hughes said.
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