{"id":230606,"date":"2026-04-14T02:18:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T02:18:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/230606\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T02:18:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T02:18:18","slug":"student-speaks-out-after-hearing-gunshots-near-raines-high-school-action-news-jax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/230606\/","title":{"rendered":"Student speaks out after hearing gunshots near Raines High School \u2013 Action News Jax"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 What was supposed to be a typical track practice for Raines High School student Maleah Smothers turned into anything but. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">\u201cWe hear screaming and fighting, and then we hear two gun shots, and immediately the football coaches that were out there they told us to go into the field house,\u201d said Smothers. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/live-breaking\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/live-breaking\/\" target=\"_blank\">&gt;&gt;&gt; STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE &lt;&lt;&lt;<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">The Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office says they got a call just before 2:40 Monday afternoon about a fight happening on Raines Vikings Way near Raines High School.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">Investigators say a 20-year-old man was shot multiple times. He was taken to the hospital, where he is now stable and is expected to survive his injuries, according to JSO.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">Internal district messages Action News Jax obtained say the victim is a former student at Raines who dropped out in 2023.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">Action News Jax asked JSO if the victim had any connection to Raines; they told me they were unsure at the time. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">JSO says over a dozen people were detained. I asked if any of the people detained were students of Raines High School. JSO said it was too early to tell. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">\u201cThe victim, it\u2019s important to note, is not a student. The incident did not occur on Raines\u2019 campus, and the school was placed on immediate lockdown when the shooting occurred, and there was no harm to any students or facilities,\u201d said JSO Commander Jacob Vorpahl.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">A video circulating on social media shows what appears to be a fight near Raines High School on Monday. In the video, you can hear the two gunshots. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">Action News Jax also found another video circulating on social media that appeared to allegedly be a fight near Raines High School from a few days ago. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">Action News Jax asked Duval County Public Schools and the school police if they had responded to any fights in the area and if these two fights could be related to each other.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">The district referred me to the Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">As for Maleah\u2019s dad, he\u2019s just grateful for the school\u2019s communication.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">\u201cI can always appreciate the conversation, that anything that happens here is always clear,\u201d said Marcus Smothers. \u201cWe know what\u2019s going on, so my daughter is safe here, and I\u2019m good with that.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">JSO says Tuesday morning, District 6 Patrol will provide additional patrol officers at the school just out of an abundance of caution. Officers will also be at the school 30 minutes before dismissal and 30 minutes after dismissal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">[DOWNLOAD: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/mobile-apps\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">[SIGN UP: <a href=\"https:\/\/membercenter.actionnewsjax.com\/newsletters\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/mobile-apps\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/mobile-apps\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/video\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n<p>Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 What was supposed to be a typical track practice for Raines High School student Maleah&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":230607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[344,347,28,348,116,351,118,117,23144,1872,349,48969,350,346,345],"class_list":{"0":"post-230606","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-action-news-jax","9":"tag-cbs47","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-fox30","12":"tag-jacksonville","13":"tag-jacksonville-fl","14":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","15":"tag-jacksonville-news","16":"tag-jacksonville-shooting","17":"tag-jso","18":"tag-northeast-florida","19":"tag-raines-high-school","20":"tag-southeast-georgia","21":"tag-wfox","22":"tag-wjax"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230606","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=230606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}