Latest news with #OperationYoungGuns
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Yahoo
‘Young Gun' convicted by Putnam County jury for 2023 murder
A Putnam County Jury has found a man guilty of a 2023 murder committed when he was just 17 years old. The 2nd-degree murder conviction came down Wednesday after a two-day trial. The State Attorney's Office said the crime was committed at a Palatka home on April 7th, 2023. In 2023, Action News Jax reported that it happened in the 700 block of North 16th Street in Palatka. At the time, Price has been invited there by his girlfriend. Officials said that when he walked in, another young man stood up, ready to fight. That's when Price pulled out a gun and shot him in the torso, before running away. The injury left Jermarien Edwards dead at the scene. The State Attorney's Office said multiple people in the home saw the murder happen and identified Price as the suspect. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] He was located 20 days later by U.S. Marshals in New Jersey. 'This case is a stark example of Young Gun defendants' total disdain for the sanctity of life,' State Attorney R.J. Larizza said about the case. 'Gun violence and murder have become too commonplace for these offenders.' 'Young Gun' refers to Operation Young Guns, a multi-county initiative launched in 2022 to address a reported increase in violent gun crime among teenagers and young adults. Read: 'God going to deal with it': Palatka pastor faces child sex abuse charges 'The goal of our operation is not just cooperation, because we have great cooperation within the 7th Circuit, but to also attack this problem and get these folks off the street that are committing these violent crimes,' State Attorney Larizza said during its launch. Price is scheduled to be sentenced on June 10th, 2025. He faces up to life in prison. [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] 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.
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Yahoo
‘Powerful evidence': St. Johns County using new technology to help solve gun crimes
A multi-agency effort is bringing a new piece of technology to the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office. With the BrassTrax cartridge case imaging system, investigators are now tracing shell casings and guns to criminal offenders in just hours. 'We can match a shell casing to a particular gun at a crime scene. When we go to prosecute an individual, he's either shot someone or killed someone. We can link that gun to that casing that was found at that scene and that's powerful evidence,' says Florida State Attorney R.J. Larizza. Larizza says the new technology comes out of the creation of Operation Young Guns, which targets the trend between young people and violent crimes. The operation sparked partnerships with agencies around Northeast Florida and Circuit 7 - including with the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office. With help from the State Attorney's Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, St. Johns County Sheriff's deputies are able to collect images of shell casings with the BrassTrax system to be sent off to a national database. In minutes, the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) returns a report of the casings history back to local law enforcement partners - slashing the time it takes to investigate crimes and prosecute offenders. The Sheriff's Office said the technology has been integral to an ongoing investigation into a January 2024 drive-by shooting at an Airbnb in St. Augustine. While no firearms were located, officials said more than 20 cartridge casings were recovered on the property. Forensic Analysts used NIBIN technology to process the cartridge casings from the scene. 'We were able to link those cartridge casings to at least three homicides in another jurisdiction and five shootings to include our attempted murders of other individuals we believe are linked to this group of people,' SJSO Major Crimes Corporal Mason Thompson said. Sheriff Robert Hardwick is championing the new tech: 'Sometimes you get these violent crimes where you have a shooting, and it takes a year or so for all of this evidence to get processed. Now, we can do it today.' To read more about Operation Young Guns, click here. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] 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.
