being shot during a robbery<\/a>, and those who know him say the violence has shaken their community.<\/p>\nA friend of the victim said the man behind the counter that morning wasn\u2019t just an employee, he was someone known for treating people with kindness.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a real sweet guy, always polite to his customers,\u201d said Andrew Lentz, who works at a nearby business.<\/p>\n
Lentz works at a sandwich shop just steps away from the Chevron gas station on St. Johns Bluff Road South, where police said the shooting happened early Thursday morning.<\/p>\n
According to the Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office, officers responded to the gas station around 5:30 in the morning and found an employee in his 40s suffering from a gunshot wound to the neck. He was taken to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries.<\/p>\n
Family members tell First Coast News\u00a0that doctors expect him to recover, but his progress has been slow, and he has not yet been able to speak.<\/p>\n
For Lentz, the shooting feels personal.<\/p>\n
He said he had gotten to know the victim over time and described him as someone who took pride in serving customers and helping others.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew him; he was a nice person,\u201d Lentz said. \u201cIt\u2019s just sad he had to go through this. His daughter, his friends, his family, they\u2019re the ones suffering the most right now because of this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lentz said crime has been an ongoing concern in the area, with repeated thefts and break-ins affecting businesses nearby, including the Chevron where his friend worked.<\/p>\n
Calls for service records show dozens of theft and robbery calls at the location over the past five years.<\/p>\n
He recalled recent break-ins that damaged the store and added stress for the owner.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly a month or two ago, he had two break-ins back to back,\u201d Lentz said. \u201cThey replaced the door, then that same day someone re-smashed the door.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite those challenges, Lentz said the victim remained committed to his customers and the community.<\/p>\n
He said the store owner often gave unhoused people small jobs, like cleaning the parking lot, and paid them fairly.<\/p>\n
Police said the shooting happened after a man dressed in all black, wearing a backpack and white shoes, entered the store and pointed a gun at the employee while making demands.<\/p>\n
Investigators said the suspect fired shots before running from the store in an unknown direction.<\/p>\n
Authorities said the shooting appears to be isolated, and there is no ongoing threat to the community.<\/p>\n
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office non-emergency number at 904-630-0500 or submit an anonymous tip through Crime Stoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Jacksonville gas station worker is recovering after being shot during a robbery. The owner’s friend speaks to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235145,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-235144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235144","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=235144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}