JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A woman in her 30s was hospitalized after a shooting early Saturday morning off Atlantic Boulevard in Arlington, police said.
The shooting happened on the same block as the Black Sheep Bar and Lounge, an after-hours business that Action News Jax reported on Friday amid neighbors’ concerns about noise and other disturbances.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said officers responded to the block around 4 a.m. after receiving calls about reckless driving and loud music. Officers were dispersing a large group of people when they heard a gunshot. The woman who was shot was taken to a local hospital, according to JSO.
She’s listed as being in stable condition.
Nearly every neighbor who spoke with Action News Jax reporter Caysea Stone on Saturday declined to appear on camera, citing fear of retaliation. They described chaotic weekends and said they hoped no one else would be hurt with Halloween that night and clocks going back an hour to Standard Time.
One neighbor who lives near the Black Sheep Bar and Lounge—which advertises it is open until 5 a.m.—showed Action News Jax a phone displaying six 911 calls made over the past five weeks. The neighbor said off camera that two of the calls followed gunshots and the others were noise complaints.
Action News Jax found that law enforcement had responded to the address listed for the bar and lounge at least seven more times since July.
Kaseem Tarver, a neighbor who spoke with Action News Jax on Friday just hours before the shooting, said noise from the bar and lounge keeps him up all night.
“Loud music from the club and loud music for people with subwoofers in their car out of loud speakers,” Tarver said.
Another neighbor said off camera that loud music, revving cars and gunshots had kept him from sleeping for almost 24 hours.
Brayan Rivas, who lives close enough to have heard some of Saturday morning’s commotion, said the city needs to address the problem.
“People got to go to work you know,” Rivas said.
“They have kids to feed. They have rent to pay and whatnot. And if it’s disturbing their sleep then there is something that you know they have to do about it.”
In a statement provided to Action News Jax on Friday, the Black Sheep Bar and Lounge said in part, “The disturbances we are aware of have occurred outside the establishment, in surrounding parking areas and on nearby public streets.”
Action News Jax contacted the business for an updated comment following Saturday morning’s shooting but had not received a response.
You can view the Black Sheep Bar and Lounge’s full statement given to Action News Jax on Friday here.
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