JACKSONVILLE, Fla — Faith leaders and community members came together for a common purpose on Saturday, to stand up against violence. It was a rally that was put together by the Ephesus church, Zion Hope Missionary Baptist Church and the Saint Paul Lutheran Church. They joined forces to make a change and honor those who lost their lives to senseless violence.
“Hope, there’s hope in unity,” Pastor Ricardo Daphnis said.
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<
One victim remembered was Rashaud Fields, a football star who was gunned down in the Highlands neighborhood just hours after receiving his diploma from Raines High School. With no arrests made yet, his mother, Janice Fields, wants someone to speak up.
“It’s been rough for all of us,” she said. “If you know something, say something, that’s all I ask.”
The family’s attorney, John Phillips, said they have a meeting with State Attorney Melissa Nelson soon.
“There hasn’t been a lot of progress,” he said. “We’ve got over $13,000 for someone to come forward and step up and do the right thing but it’s been slow.”
Fields’ murder was one of at least 127 last year, so far in 2023, there’s been 13.
“When you have over 1,000 murders in seven years, a lot of them being unsolved, resources are taxed,” Phillips said. “We’ve sat in the Fields’ living room multiple times with two, three, four detectives. We know they’re working but sometime leads go cold.”
Pastor of Zion Hope Missionary Baptist Church, Glenn Foreman Jr. said there will be more rallies in the future.
“How can the mother and family at one moment be clapping for their son across the stage in preparation to go play college football and the next get a knock on the door it’s all over,” he said. “It’s bigger than that.”
For Fields’ mother and father, all they want is justice for their son.
“It would mean so much to me and my wife and my whole entire family, our whole entire family is upset and devasted by this,” Ronnie Fields said.
“As a mother I have to keep fighting, I’m going to keep fighting until the end,” Janice Fields said. “That’s what us mothers do for our kids.”
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]
Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.