{"id":379081,"date":"2026-08-23T15:02:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T15:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/379081\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T15:02:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T15:02:18","slug":"school-playing-football-near-friday-night-westside-shooting-cancels-rest-of-its-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/379081\/","title":{"rendered":"School playing football near Friday night Westside shooting cancels rest of its season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 The school whose team was playing football near where a shooting broke out on the Westside on Friday night has cancelled the rest of its season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">The announcement came in an Instagram post by someone at Young Kids in Motion Academy, whose team was playing Joshua Christian Academy when gunshot erupted outside.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">The game was the team\u2019s regular-season opener. It had seven games to go in its season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">\u201cThis decision was not made lightly,\u201d the post Saturday afternoon read. \u201cThe safety and well-being of our student-athletes come before any game, trophy or season.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">Police said a 19-year-old woman and a 20-year-old man were injured about 9 p.m. during the game at the Bob Hayes Sports Complex on Soutel Drive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">Both victims were listed in stable condition Saturday morning, according to a Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office news release. JSO said it\u2019s looking for two male assailants who are in their late teens to early 20s <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">The gunfire broke out after a dispute between two groups of individuals, the news release stated. Spectators escorted one group of individuals out of the area after the dispute began to escalate, while the second group remained at the location, the news release stated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">A short time later, the first group returned and gunfire erupted, JSO said. The victims were taken to the hospital. The woman was shot in the leg. The man was shot in the shoulder. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\"><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\">While the children focused on touchdowns and cheer routines, the adults in attendance viewed the gathering as an event to keep the kids focused on positive things. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">Wanita Washington, whose daughter coaches the cheer team and whose grandson plays football, issued an impassioned plea to the broader community to address systemic safety issues. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s really sad, we have to stop the violence now,\u201d Washington said. \u201cIt\u2019s too much going on. We got kids\u2014think about the kids now. I feel like right now it\u2019s time for everybody to come together for the kids and stop the violence, stop the shooting and stuff, put the guns down.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">Washington emphasized that structured athletic programs provide a necessary alternative to the dangers facing unsupervised youth. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">\u201cI really think it\u2019s very important due to the fact of giving the kids something to do other than just running the streets or getting into trouble,\u201d Washington added. \u201cSo I feel like this is a good thing for the kids to have something to do. They need to have more stuff for the kids.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">The sentiment was echoed to another parent. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">\u201cMy son is actually up here, he\u2019s doing 6U, he\u2019s gonna be playing football today,\u201d said local father Eddy Campbell, who prepared for a full day of fun football. \u201cWe got a couple games today playing football all day, getting these boys started.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call JSO at 904-630-0500, or Crime Stoppers at 866-845-TIPS, or leave an online tip at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/news\/local\/school-playing-football-near-friday-night-westside-shooting-cancels-rest-its-season\/4JCVZURL5JDNXEJRLPLPPMBGIQ\/mailto:JSOCrimetips@Jaxsheriff.org\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">JSOCrimetips@Jaxsheriff.org<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\"><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\">[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 The school whose team was playing football near where a shooting broke out on the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[344,347,28,348,116,351,118,117,349,350,346,345],"class_list":["post-379081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-action-news-jax","tag-cbs47","tag-florida","tag-fox30","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-fl","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-northeast-florida","tag-southeast-georgia","tag-wfox","tag-wjax"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379081","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=379081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}