JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 After four people were shot during a gathering on the Eastside on Sunday, one local Bishop is now calling for peace. <\/p>\n
Bishop Harry Williams II, of nearby In the Word International Church said the shooting during the event was unusual and is hoping that a proposed community center can help make a difference. <\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/a><\/p>\n Four people were shot at Jesse Street and A. Phillip Randolph Boulevard Sunday morning. The victims sustained non-life threatening injuries. Williams was shocked to learn about the shooting. <\/p>\n He said it was a regular, usually uneventful community gathering. While a moment of tribute was paid to the local born rapper Lil Poppa, who reportedly died by suicide at age 25 in Atlanta, Williams said, \u201cIt wasn\u2019t a memorial for Lil Poppa at all. It was a regular gathering; they may have taken time to just remember Poppa.\u201d<\/p>\n Williams, who says he is close to Lil Poppa\u2019s family, and said the rapper is from the area, said the shooting was unrelated to the rapper. <\/p>\n RELATED: Rapper Lil Poppa dies at 25<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThat little kid who [was] quiet, you began to see how big he was in his music,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n The Jacksonville\u2019s Sheriff\u2019s Office said in a media release Sunday that they are attempting to develop suspect information and a motive for the shooting. They said Sunday the shooting did not appear to be gang related.<\/p>\n Now Bishop Williams wants to change the narrative about his and Lil Poppa\u2019s community, the Eastside. <\/p>\n \u201cAnytime there\u2019s a shooting, unfortunately the African-American neighborhoods, unfortunately there\u2019s more conversation around that, but they\u2019re shootings all over the city,\u201d Williams said. <\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n As part of his plan to make a difference, Bishop Williams showed us his renderings for his proposed community center. The estimated price tag is $2.3 million. It will be funded by his church and private donations. <\/p>\n Bishop Williams wants to provide services to broad age ranges from afterschool, to a warming and cooling shelter, to constructive games available for adults in the community and even addiction treatment, on top of services he services he already provides like suicide prevention counseling.<\/p>\n Williams\u2019 proposal idea comes in the midst of a multi-million dollar Eastside community redevelopment plan targeting affordable housing, workforce development, and small business support, and amid controversy over how the funds are being disbursed. <\/p>\n [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t care if they say they\u2019re gonna give $1 billion to this neighborhood. I\u2019m not counting it. I\u2019m not counting it until it hits,\u201d Williams said. <\/p>\n Williams wants to get the community center built by 2028. He is currently in the process of getting permits. <\/p>\n In The Word International Church is hosting a listening party on Friday at 7 p.m. for recording artist T-Strike. It\u2019s one of the church\u2019s many efforts to raise awareness for suicide prevention.\u00a0<\/p>\n Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 After four people were shot during a gathering on the Eastside on Sunday, one local…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":170971,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[982,643,7849,6010,16004,81346,116,118,117,81345,81348,634,81349,81350,29614,81347,66805,71896],"class_list":{"0":"post-170970","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-action_news","9":"tag-action_news_jack","10":"tag-atlanta","11":"tag-bishop","12":"tag-east_side","13":"tag-harry_williams_ii","14":"tag-jacksonville","15":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","16":"tag-jacksonville-news","17":"tag-jesse_street","18":"tag-lil_papa","19":"tag-local","20":"tag-papa","21":"tag-sparing_street","22":"tag-williams","23":"tag-word_international_church","24":"tag-zion_dekoto","25":"tag-zion_deoto"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170970","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=170970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170970\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}