JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Parents and siblings are mourning a 29-year-old Jacksonville man, who was shot and killed while sitting in a car with friends on the Eastside this week.
Vincent Samuels is one of 46 people killed in Jacksonville this year, according to a First Coast News database.
An orange arrow spray-painted on the road is the only indicator of police investigating a deadly shooting three days earlier on 25th Street East near Danese Street.
Family says Samuels, father of a 7-year-old girl, was sitting in a car with friends when he was shot and killed on May 18.
“From a dad’s perspective, my granddaughter doesn’t have a dad anymore. Her dad is gone, and that bothers me,” Vincent Samuels Sr. said.
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Samuels' family was in the Eastside neighborhood on Friday. A police report shows at least three witnesses shared information, but the family says more details are needed.
"I think we can do more than 'white car,' somebody saw what kind of car it was, the year, the tag number, the gunman or gunmen, somebody knows who those people are," Samuels said.
Kristian Perry, Samuels' sister, says they are still processing their grief.
"We lost my brother, but right now we really want answers and for people to say what they’ve seen, somebody seen something," Perry said.
According to First Coast News records, more than 140 shootings have occurred 140 days into 2021.
At least 39 of those shootings were deadly.
"In the days leading up to his death, he expressed he was concerned about his safety," Samuels' mother Terry Samuels Gartrell said.
"It can be a nickname, a street name ... anything can probably help us," Perry said.
The family says they will also be walking with the group MAD DADs in the future.
The support through this tragedy is pushing this family to learn why their loved one was killed.
“If he was standing right by me here today, he would say 'don’t give up.' He would say that to me. Don't give up, make sure the people who did this are taken behind bars," Samuels' mother said.
The family is organizing funeral arrangements. A GoFundMe page has been set up for Samuels that you can find here.
If you have any information, you are asked to call First Coast Crime Stoppers at (866) 845-TIPS.