{"id":389067,"date":"2026-09-03T06:56:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T06:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/389067\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T06:56:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T06:56:10","slug":"man-fatally-shot-during-argument-in-hotel-parking-lot-was-friendly-dad-who-was-loved-by-his-children-residents-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/389067\/","title":{"rendered":"Man fatally shot during argument in hotel parking lot was friendly dad who was loved by his children, residents say"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A man fatally shot Tuesday night during an argument<\/a> in the parking lot of an extended-stay hotel near Beach Boulevard was a father who was known to those who call the hotel home.<\/p>\n

Police have not released the victim\u2019s name, but one woman who said he was a good friend described him as someone who was always in high spirits.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis children loved him to death,\u201d said Stephany Vaghan, who is a resident at the WoodSpring Suites off Beach Boulevard, about a mile west of St. Johns Bluff Road.<\/p>\n

Police were called around 8:42 p.m. to the hotel on Saland Way and found the man shot several times. He died at the scene.<\/p>\n

According to JSO, witnesses said they heard an argument between the man and another person moments before shots rang out.<\/p>\n

A manager at the hotel was not available for comment on Wednesday, but a resident who lives on the fourth floor of the building shared video of the aftermath with News4JAX.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just playing on my laptop upstairs, waiting for my girlfriend to get home, and I just hear, like, 8 or 9 gunshots go off out of nowhere,\u201d Christopher Dunning said. \u201cI was like, damn. So, you know, I laid down on the ground, and I was like, \u2018Wow, this is serious.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Police said the suspected shooter drove away in a dark colored vehicle. It\u2019s unclear if the two knew each other or why they were arguing. <\/p>\n

As Vaghan mourns the death of her friend, she encourages the managers of the property to ensure the safety of tenants and increase security.<\/p>\n

If you have any information, contact the Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office by phone at 904-630-0500, by email at jsocrimetips@jaxsheriff.org<\/a>, or through CrimeStoppers at 866-845-TIPS.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A man fatally shot Tuesday night during an argument in the parking lot of an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389068,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[265,1039,28,116,118,117,1415],"class_list":["post-389067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-crime","tag-duval-county","tag-florida","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jacksonville-sheriffs-office"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389067","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=389067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}