For the second time in five months, gunfire erupted at a youth football game in Jacksonville, this time leaving no one hurt, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Now police are seeking a suspect after the gunfire at a Mandarin Athletic Association Spring Tackle Football Jamboree at Greenland Park, which caused about 500 players and spectators to flee for cover, police said.
One of those was Kathryn Palumbo, as team members ran behind an equipment building when shots rang out at a game her son was playing in.
“People started yelling to get down, I pulled my son out of the stands and kind of laid on top of him,” Palumbo told Times-Union news partner First Coast News.
Officers were called out at about 4:30 p.m. to the park at 11808 Fayal Drive in reference to a reported shooting, police said. Investigation revealed that two spectators began arguing, and one pulled a semi-automatic short rifle from a backpack and began shooting, the police report said.
No one was hit or injured as spectators and players fled the scene, police said. Bullets did not hit any park structures either, the report said.
Mandarin Athletic Association president Jovie Bellin wasn’t at the event, but rushed to the park when he learned of it, telling First Coast News that he “couldn’t believe that it happened at the park.”
Two police dogs and a helicopter unit assisted in the search for suspect and victim, but no one was found, the report said. Witnesses described the suspect with the gun as a muscular man with dreadlocks, wearing a black sweatshirt and red belt, the report said.
Evidence technicians recovered several shell casings and the backpack, the police report said.
This was the second shooting during a local youth football event since the fall.
A 27-year-old man was killed and a 7-year-old boy wounded on Oct. 18 in what Jacksonville police called a targeted attack at a youth game at a football field on Macy Avenue. Four distinct shots can be heard on a video posted by MAD DADS Jacksonville at bit.ly/2IDVnM0, taken at that game between the MOT Cowboys and Duval Jags. Players are seen running or getting down on the ground as the gunfire stops.
Anyone who witnessed Sunday’s Mandarin shooting or has information about it can call the Sheriff’s Office at (904) 630-0500, email JSOCrimeTips@jaxsheriff.org or leave an anonymous tip and be eligible for a possible reward by calling First Coast Crime Stoppers at (866) 845-8477 (TIPS).