{"id":159284,"date":"2026-02-18T03:29:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T03:29:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/159284\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T03:29:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T03:29:18","slug":"community-leaders-seek-ways-to-prevent-teenage-takeovers-after-gunfire-near-avenues-mall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/159284\/","title":{"rendered":"Community leaders seek ways to prevent teenage \u2018takeovers\u2019 after gunfire near Avenues Mall"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Community leaders and law enforcement are weighing how to prevent large teenage \u201ctakeovers\u201d after a gun was fired and chaos erupted near the Avenues Mall this past weekend<\/a>.<\/p>\n

RELATED: City leaders, community react to chaos outside Avenues Mall over weekend<\/a><\/p>\n

Pastor Korey O\u2019Neal, who works with at-risk teens and gang members<\/a> as a partner with the sheriff\u2019s office, said parents should know when their children plan to attend a takeover and whether police or security will be present.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo they know there\u2019s a consequence? Or do they feel they go, something happens and go home?\u201d O\u2019Neal said. \u201cA lot of them do feel that way. I\u2019m just going to do what I do or I\u2019m going to go and get in trouble. But I\u2019ll be out the next day because I\u2019m a youth. No, these crimes are serious.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neal urged organizers to coordinate with adults and authorities to make events safer. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want to organize a takeover, reach out. We can help you do it the right way. I\u2019m all for getting hundreds of kids together and having a great time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The pastor added that signs warning against weapons aren\u2019t enough without formal supervision. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t tell youth today \u2018no guns allowed.\u2019 Some of the youth carry guns. Many of the youth I oversee in the program I run have gun charges. They\u2019re on video holding guns,\u201d O\u2019Neal said.<\/p>\n

The sheriff\u2019s office and city officials said they are taking the issue seriously. News4JAX has reported on similar problems for years, including several takeovers at Orange Park Mall<\/a> that required intervention by the Clay County Sheriff\u2019s Office. <\/p>\n

Authorities have also previously shut down street-racing gatherings, such as a chaotic parking-lot takeover<\/a> on Beach Boulevard that drew mostly young adults.<\/p>\n

Officials and community leaders say organized security, police presence or adult supervision are key to preventing future incidents.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Community leaders and law enforcement are weighing how to prevent large teenage \u201ctakeovers\u201d after a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159285,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[65582,1039,116,118,117],"class_list":{"0":"post-159284","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-avenues-mall","9":"tag-duval-county","10":"tag-jacksonville","11":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","12":"tag-jacksonville-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}