Created: 3/3/2009 5:22:00 PM 
JACKSONVILLE, FL -- Antonio Creech was just 22 years old. He had his whole life ahead of him.
The young man's mother says she will never get over her son's death. Antonio became one of Jacksonville's murder statistics in December, 2007.
It was the day before Christmas Eve. Antonio's family says he came to visit his sister at her apartment in Eureka Gardens.
But before he made it to her door, he saw someone he knew and stopped to talk.
Seconds later, there was gunfire. Antonio got caught in the crossfire.
"I can't do nothing for my wife. One, our son is gone. That's the worst feeling. I can't do nothing but hold her," says James Creech, Jr.The family is now holding Eureka Gardens responsible. They say the apartment owners did not protect those who lived there.
"This is the worst we've ever seen. This is the deadliest of the deadly. Seven murders in seven months. I think it's safer in any neighborhood in Baghdad...and nothing was done," says Steve Pajcic, the family's attorney.Pajcic says the murder was senseless and preventable. He also says the owners knew there was a crime problem.
Pajcic referred to thousands of police calls to the complex in the last couple of years. He also noted how there have been 11 murders there from 2000-2007.
He says the apartment complex owners should have stepped up to keep their complex safe.
"Eureka Gardens has taken rent and federal subsidies and done nothing...no security, no gates, no warning to the tenants," says Pajcic.
The attorney says Antonio had no criminal record. He wasn't on drugs.
Antonio had plans to go to college. Those plans were cut short. His mother has a hard time talking about it. "I just wish I could see my son again...just come through that door."
Eureka Gardens' owner, BMLRW, says because of pending legislation it cannot comment about the case.
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