{"id":171178,"date":"2026-02-27T06:55:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T06:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/171178\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T06:55:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T06:55:13","slug":"recent-takeover-events-prompt-jacksonville-beach-to-increase-number-of-officers-monitor-gatherings-this-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/171178\/","title":{"rendered":"Recent \u2018takeover\u2019 events prompt Jacksonville Beach to increase number of officers, monitor gatherings this weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. \u2013 Nearly one week after five teens were shot in Jacksonville Beach during a \u201ctakeover\u201d<\/a> event, the city\u2019s police department said it plans to increase the number of officers on the streets to monitor for any potential unpermitted gatherings. <\/p>\n

On Thursday afternoon, the Jacksonville Beach Police Department posted on social media to notify residents and potential planners of \u201ctakeovers\u201d and \u201cBNB parties\u201d that officers will be on the lookout during peak hours to prevent them from forming. <\/p>\n

The agency also asked anyone who notices a large gathering forming to contact their department immediately.<\/p>\n

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Police now say 5 teens hit by gunfire during \u2018takeover\u2019 event in Jacksonville Beach; chaos caught on camera<\/a> | Recent gatherings of young people across the Jacksonville area have ended in violence. So what is a \u2018teen takeover\u2019?<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cEarly intervention allows officers to respond promptly, determine whether the gathering is authorized or legal, and address any potential safety concerns,\u201d police said. <\/p>\n

The agency also posted a flyer for an event to give people an idea of what to look out for if they see something similar circulating on social media. <\/p>\n

On Monday, Jacksonville Beach police said five teenagers were injured after gunshots were fired during a Saturday \u201ctakeover\u201d event, which is a large, loosely organized gathering of juveniles that\u2019s typically promoted on social media, at the beaches. <\/p>\n

The chaos of the shooting was captured on camera by a News4JAX viewer who was filming from a nearby high-rise.<\/p>\n

Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters has emphasized that these aren\u2019t sanctioned community events. They\u2019re spontaneous meetups driven by social media that can be hard for parents \u2014 and sometimes even police \u2014 to see coming.<\/p>\n

At their most basic, teen takeovers look like big crowds of kids milling around \u2014 talking, filming videos, playing music and sometimes blocking traffic or disturbing nearby businesses.<\/p>\n

But local law enforcement has documented more serious problems:<\/p>\n

Fights breaking out inside crowds<\/p>\n

Handguns and drugs showing up at the gatherings<\/p>\n

Shots fired near busy shopping areas, sending people running<\/p>\n

Property damage and businesses forced to close early<\/p>\n

Jacksonville has seen several high-profile incidents<\/a> linked to these kinds of gatherings.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. \u2013 Nearly one week after five teens were shot in Jacksonville Beach during a \u201ctakeover\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171179,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[265,116,2130,41130,118,117,78492],"class_list":["post-171178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-crime","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-beach","tag-jacksonville-beach-police-department","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-teen-takeover"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171178","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=171178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}