JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Franklin Prince Jr. was starting to turn things around for himself.
Through an Action News Jax partnership with Project: Cold Case his sister Glenda McCollors-McClendon spoke to us via Zoom Thursday.
She said her brother was working to become a merchant mariner before he was killed.
“He had taken a merchant seaman class, he wanted to travel, and he wanted to take care of his mom. That was his big thing, was to take care of our mom,” Glenda said.
But on Dec. 23, 2007, three men pulled up to Franklin’s apartment at the complex formally known as Eureka Gardens on LaBelle Street.
He was sitting on the steps with two other men when the suspects forced them to the ground and shot them.
Another man named Antonio Creech was also killed while the third victim survived his injuries.
“We know Franklin was shot in the head three times,” she said.
Since 2007, the westside apartment complex has undergone many changes but investigators hope that other witnesses may feel more comfortable coming forward now.
The murders happened just two days before Christmas. The holidays have never been the same for Glenda and her family.
She believes the killings were over a turf war.
“My biggest message to young men and women that hustle in the streets, you know you can be a billionaire you could take $20 and turn it into $2,000 in hours. Take that same drive, that same determination, that same tenacity put your resources together, open up a youth center, open up a grocery store,” Glenda said.
As her mom gets older, she’s hoping she will live to see the day the case finally gets solved.
She said it’s the not knowing part that makes it that much harder to cope.
“To pray for them that’s the easy part, to love them in spite of that’s even easy but to know that they have not reckoned that’s not easy,” she said.
If you have any information that could help solve this case or others call CrimeStoppers at 866-845-TIPS.
You can also visit ProjectColdCase.org for details on local cold cases.