Neighbors told Action News Jacksonville  the teenager tried to steal a vehicle overnight in their neighborhood, which is less than half a mile from Thomas Jefferson Elementary School.

JSO said neighbors held the teen at gunpoint, when they caught him and called 911.

Neighbor Keith Leister said, “We told him to stop. He didn't want to stop; he just wanted to keep walking. He said ‘I would rather for y'all to shoot me than for me to go to jail.’ I said ‘Well, you’re going to jail tonight partner.’"

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Fulton DA Fani Willis (center) with Nathan J. Wade (right), the special prosecutor she hired to manage the Trump case and had a romantic relationship with, at a news conference announcing charges against President-elect Donald Trump and others in Atlanta, Aug. 14, 2023. Georgia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, upheld an appeals court's decision to disqualify Willis from the election interference case against Trump and his allies. (Kenny Holston/New York Times)

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