\u2018It was my worst nightmare\u2019: Father speaks after son shot at Jacksonville high school football game<\/a><\/p>\nTwo people were shot near a game at Lonnie C. Miller Park, and the incident is raising serious questions about safety at sporting events.<\/p>\n
What was supposed to be a night of football quickly turned into a crime scene.<\/p>\n
The Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office says an ongoing dispute between two groups escalated during the game between Young Kids in Motion Academy and Joshua Christian Academy. <\/p>\n
One group was escorted out, but they came back.<\/p>\n
Shots were fired around 9 p.m., sending people running and leaving two victims injured.<\/p>\n
Zakyri Crews, 20, was struck in the shoulder and a 19-year-old woman was struck in the leg. Both were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.<\/p>\n
News4JAX spoke with Zakyri\u2019s father, James Crews, who described the severity of his son\u2019s injuries.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bone in his triceps is completely shattered. So they put a band-aid on it and gave him some pain medication and sent him home and we\u2019re waiting for surgery at this point. He\u2019s in excruciating pain,\u201d Crews said.<\/p>\n
JSO says two men believed to be responsible ran from the scene. They are described as being in their late teens to early 20s.<\/p>\n
Investigators say the shooting stems from an ongoing dispute between the two groups and there is no additional danger to the community or the schools involved.<\/p>\n
On Monday, News4JAX saw law enforcement and city officials surveying the park, a sign that Friday night\u2019s shooting has prompted a closer look at the venue.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a conversation Jacksonville has had before.<\/p>\n
In 2018, a man was killed and two teenagers were wounded in a gang-related shooting as fans left a Raines High School game.<\/p>\n
In 2020, a 27-year-old man was fatally shot, and a 7-year-old boy was injured during a shooting at a youth football game in Arlington.<\/p>\n
The pattern raises serious questions about safety at sporting events, and what more can be done to protect players, families and fans.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need more police officers at these football games. We need more school security at these football games. We need more safety. More parents taking accountability,\u201d said community member John Marcus.<\/p>\n
For the schools involved, the impact goes beyond this one night.<\/p>\n
Young Kids in Motion Academy announced it has canceled the rest of its football season. In a statement, the school said: <\/p>\n
\u201cThis decision was not made lightly. It is due to unforeseen circumstances beyond our control.\u201d<\/p>\n
When News4JAX reached out to the school directly, officials said the decision came down to one thing, safety.<\/p>\n
The school also noted that as the visiting team, security at the game was the responsibility of the home team, Joshua Christian Academy.<\/p>\n
Young Kids in Motion Academy also paid out of pocket to provide counseling to students who witnessed the incident.<\/p>\n
When News4JAX reached out to the Duval County School District, officials redirected us to YKMA, noting it is a private school matter. <\/p>\n
Joshua Christian Academy has not responded.<\/p>\n
JSO is still searching for the two suspects. <\/p>\n
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office or submit an anonymous tip through Crime Stoppers.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 The first week of high school football season ended in gunfire on Jacksonville\u2019s Northside Friday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":824691,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,451,14310,22264,3,2079,452,453],"class_list":["post-824690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-headlines","tag-jacksonville","tag-jso","tag-news","tag-shooting","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=824690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/824691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=824690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=824690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=824690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}