COLD CASE: 18-year-old shot and killed while riding bike in 2013

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — JSO is looking for your help to solve a cold case. This crime involves an 18-year-old boy who was shot and killed while he was riding his bike near Moncrief Park.

Darryl Arnold, Jr. was a week shy of starting his senior year at Raines High School when he was gunned down riding a bike in Moncrief on Aug 14, 2013.

“This case is really tragic,” said Homicide Detective Ray Reeves, who works for the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office’s Cold Case Unit.

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Reeves says Arnold, Jr. was with his friend out that night, simply hanging out.

“They hadn’t been involved in any nefarious activities, they weren’t out doing anything prior to this,” he explained.

Arnold, Jr. was riding a bike with his friend on the handlebars at around 2 a.m. along W 26th Street, somewhere between Fairfax Street and Spires Avenue.

His friend told JSO another man on a bike approached them both from behind and began to shoot at them, striking Darryl in the head.

Unfortunately, JSO doesn’t have much evidence in this case, aside from a bullet that detectives recovered. There was no surveillance video available in the area, either.

“Neighbors say they heard several gunshots,” Reeves shared. “His buddy who was on the handlebars ran home, he was only a few blocks away, a block and half back to his house, which is where they were going, and told his family and called 911 and Jacksonville Fire Rescue responded out to treat the victim, Darryl, and transported him back to the hospital.”

Arnold, Jr. later died from his injuries.

”We don’t know if this was a random act [or] if someone identified or misidentified these folks,” Reeves pointed out.

The friend was only able to provide this description of the gunman: “Dressed in all-black, younger, thin, maybe 5′9, 5′10,” Reeves explained. But still, “Detectives could not find a motive, could not find a suspect,” he concluded.

So JSO needs your help, and hopes the timeline of this case helps jog someone’s memory.

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”In the cold [case] side of things, it’s a relatively new case and so we’re hoping that when you look back at 2013, that other witnesses or suspects or people who may have some information may still be with us but also here in Jacksonville,” Reeves emphasized, adding, “We’re really relying on someone hopefully who may see this spotlight.”

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Darryl Arnold, Jr. was a week shy of starting his senior year at Raines High School when he was gunned down riding a bike in Moncrief on August 14, 2013.

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