A targeted shooting last week peppered homes and cars with bullet holes in an Atlantic Beach neighborhood. Neighbors reported hearing more than 40 rounds fired at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 16, in the 1300 block of Violet Street following a dispute between a resident and two males in a blue, four-door vehicle with dark, tinted windows.
Resident Ryan Lee was preparing to lead a neighborhood karate class in his backyard adjacent to the site of the shooting when he heard what he thought was fireworks.
“I was taking stuff in and out of my car in the front yard. I had just sent my kids in. My son went right in but my daughter sat in the car for a minute trying to get her stuff out. I had equipment to move and was trying to set up for my class so I wasn’t thinking about anything else,” he said. “My wife was upstairs and I heard was I thought was firecrackers, especially this close to the Fourth of July. I thought ‘no way was that a gun’ because that was too many rounds. I could have easily been shot.”
Lee said he went to the front of the house intending to ask his neighbors to stop the fireworks for an hour so he could concentrate on his lesson. Instead, he encountered another neighbor who reported seeing the gunmen. His wife also witnessed the shooting from the upstairs window.
“I stepped out of my backyard and I saw my neighbors to the left of me had grabbed her children and ran into the backyard. She asked me ‘did you see the guy with the gun?’” he recalled. “Then my wife popped out and said ‘did you see that guy with the gun?’ and I said wait a minute, both of you are telling me there was a guy with a gun out here? I thought if there was a guy with a gun then there has got to be shells everywhere and bullet holes.”
While neither of Lee’s vehicles sustained any damage, two of his neighbor’s cars were struck. In total, seven vehicles were hit by bullets. Kate Arnold, who was at work at the time, had her home sprayed with more than 15 rounds.
“We saw shells up and down the street. At any given point any of our kids could’ve been outside,” said Lee of his children, ages 9 and 10. “Luckily, they know if I’m getting ready to teach class then they need to stay inside.”
Taylor Hazlehurst usually attends Lee’s class across the street from her home but her daughter wasn’t feeling well that morning, and they decided to stay home. The pair usually pick up another little boy in the neighborhood and the kids play on his front porch before heading off to class. She and her daughter were playing pretend in the front of the house when shots rang out moments after her husband, Tal, pulled out of the driveway. With her son napping in another room, she ushered her frightened daughter behind the couch.
“Inside, I told my daughter to get down and tucked her behind the couch, and crawled to the front door, hoping it was already locked. By the time I had to reach the door to lock it, my husband had already made it back,” she said.
“Had we decided not to forgo karate class, our fate could be very different. The neighbor boy that we would have gone to pick up had two of his cars shot merely five minutes before class would have begun.”
This is not the first time that neighbors have experienced a shooting in their area. The same house was targeted during a drive-by shooting last year but, according to Lee, that incident occurred in the middle of the night. Having such a brazen act take place in broad daylight is terrifying for the residents, especially families with children, he said.
“This time it was in the middle day which made it even more scary. We saw at least 20 shell casings that the police had marked out, but it was real fast and it was two different guns. When that happened, thank God everybody knew to stay in their houses. We were all totally in shock,” he said. “This is a great neighborhood. Families all get along. There was never anything like gunshots until this last year. They are definitely targeting the resident. There’s nobody else in the neighborhood as far as I know that would have any problems like this.”
Hazlehurst said she is struggling to explain the violence to her daughter in an age-appropriate way.
“What do you say to help your kids cope with a shooting?” she said. “I honestly don’t even know what to say. I feel lost.”
With no arrests announced in the case, Lee said he is taking the necessary precautions to protect himself and his family. His kids will be playing in the backyard where he can keep an eye on them.
“That’s the scary part. What do we do? I don’t want them in the front yard now. It’s real scary. We’re all victims at this point.”
Police are reviewing surveillance videos in the area, and are asking any neighbors or businesses in the area with video to call the Atlantic Beach Police Department at 247-5859.
