‘We’re all shaken up by it’: Businesses, patrons concerned after shooting in Jacksonville Beach

JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. — Business owners and patrons alike are shaken up after gunshots rang out outside Brix Taphouse in Jacksonville Beach late Sunday night.

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Jax Beach police said two men were found shot.

We now know one of those men, Breon Geddes, 23, is a convicted felon. Police are not naming the second man involved at this time.

“We were driving by, we were going to go on the beach, and just out of nowhere — ‘boom,’” Jax Beach resident Snarrg Sellars said.

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Gunshots are an unfamiliar sound in Jax Beach and crime scene tape is an unfamiliar sight.

“This is a safe community, so I was in shock that this happened so close to the bar, so close to home,” The Wreck Tiki Lounge owner Fernando Meza said.

Action News Jax first told you when police responded to reports of a gunfight outside of Brix Taphouse.

“I didn’t expect a shooting because I think Jacksonville is a pretty safe place. Sometimes it can get crazy,” Jacksonville Beach resident Jack Haynes said.

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Police said they found two men suffering from non life-threatening gunshot wounds. Geddes was arrested for “possession of firearm, weapon or ammunition by convicted Florida felon.”

Geddes had his first appearance in court Monday morning; his bond is set at $150,000.

Geddes is no stranger to jail, as he has been arrested five times in the past three years.

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He was first arrested in 2019 for assault on a law enforcement officer. Other charges include carrying a concealed firearm, possession of marijuana with intent to sell, fleeing a law enforcement officer and violation of probation.

According to a police report, officers found a Glock with an extended magazine in Geddes’ pants.

Geddes’ next court date is May 17.

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“The shootings are getting worse, which is scaring me. I don’t like [it] at all,” Jacksonville Beach resident Walker Thrasher said.

Surrounding business owners like Fernando Meza said the beach is a safe place, and he still considers it so.

“We’re all shaken up by it, and glad that there were no casualties, obviously. And no casualties of the people inside the establishments,” Meza said.

We visited other businesses in the area to find any security footage that may have captured the shooting, but most businesses’ cameras didn’t work or they didn’t have them at all.

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