Family members have identified the man found shot dead inside a car on Lem Turner Road on Sunday morning as 19-year-old Darryl Mack.
Mack’s family said he had just graduated from Mandarin High School and was supposed to start college in the fall.
“That’s my best friend,” Mack’s older sister, Ciera, said. “He didn’t deserve it.”
Ciera added that she was sure Mack, a star cornerback, would make it to the NFL.
Mack’s girlfriend of more than two years joined family and friends at the Mack’s home Sunday.
“He told me almost every chance he got that he wanted to marry me,” Chelsea Brown said.
Brown said she was texting Mack Saturday night when she stopped getting replies.
“I just assumed his phone died and he was gonna text me in the morning like usual,” she said.
Shortly after, Brown said, she got a call from Mack’s cousin telling her what happened.
“We drove to Lem Turner,” Brown said. “I was just crying and screaming the whole way.”
Brown said earlier that day she and Mack had discussed getting a dog together.
“He didn’t deserve this,” she said. “He was one of the sweetest boys that you’ll ever meet and I don’t think I’ll ever meet someone that’ll compare to Darryl.”
Carey Green said he was like an uncle to Mack.
“You never could even speak to him or grab him and mess with him without him saying ‘yes sir, no sir,’” Green said.
Green said he’s tired of seeing young men being the victims and perpetrators of violent crime in Jacksonville.
“You don’t even have problems big enough to be picking up guns, killing people,” he said.
He also had a message for parents.
“Do something about your kids,” he said. “Don’t let them run around being unruly. And giving them the mindset to even think it’s okay to go kill someone.”