Three Jacksonville ZIP Codes Rank Among Florida's Worst for Child Gun Injuries

Three Jacksonville ZIP codes rank among the 10 worst in Florida for firearm injuries to children, part of an exclusive analysis of hospital data that reveals a public health crisis concentrated in neighborhoods west and north of downtown Duval County.

From 2018 to 2024, more than 4,000 Florida children age 17 or younger were hospitalized for gunshot wounds — roughly 1. 5 per day — according to data obtained from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration by KFF Health News and The Trace. Jacksonville's three ZIP codes in the top 10 reflect the city's disproportionate burden of pediatric gun violence across the state.

The numbers from hospital billing records

The analysis examined hospital billing data used to collect payments from insurance companies and government programs. The data does not identify individual patients but includes their residential ZIP code, age, race, and other demographics.

The emergency department dataset covered 67,565,314 visits that did not result in admission, yielding 2,340 children treated for gunshot wounds. The inpatient dataset covered 21,857,664 hospital admissions, yielding 1,684 children admitted with gunshot wounds. To avoid double-counting, the analysis excluded emergency department patients whose records indicated they were transferred to a different inpatient facility.

UF Health Jacksonville, the only Level I trauma center in northeastern Florida, treated 255 patients for gunshot wounds in 2024, including 32 who were 17 or younger, according to Firas Madbak, chief of acute care surgery. In 2025, the hospital treated 269 patients for firearm injuries, including 22 under 18. Through Aug. 19 this year, UF Health Jacksonville has treated 137 patients for gunshot wounds, including 18 who were 17 or younger.

The hospital data captures only children who survived long enough to reach medical care; it does not include those who died at the scene or before arriving at a hospital.

Impact on North and West Jacksonville neighborhoods

The Jacksonville ZIP codes in Florida's top 10 are clustered in areas west and north of downtown, neighborhoods that have endured decades of disinvestment and segregation stemming from early 20th-century housing and banking discrimination.

Jeffrey Goldhagen, a UF Health pediatrician and former health director for Duval County, said local and state leaders have failed to address what he called the root causes of preventable firearm injuries, including poverty, lack of opportunity, and systemic neglect. "The bottom line is nobody gives a flying f— about these young men," Goldhagen said.

Vicki Waytowich, executive director of the Partnership for Child Health, a nonprofit that provides health and juvenile justice services for children and families in Jacksonville, described crime as a symptom of deeper problems on the north side: neighborhood decay, generational trauma, and lack of job opportunities. Unlike Mandarin, a predominantly white neighborhood on the south side with easy access to about seven grocery stores, children on the north side have poor nutrition and many walk more than a mile to get to school, Waytowich said.

"We can see that kids don't have hope," Waytowich said. "When kids believe they're going to die at 21, then what's the use of goal-setting and résumé-building workshops? "

The analysis found that nearly all the Florida ZIP codes with the highest rates of firearm injuries for children have large Black or Latino populations. Research has linked children in disadvantaged neighborhoods to being up to 20 times more likely to suffer firearm injuries than their peers in the most advantaged areas.

"It's disheartening," Madbak said. "You see it day in and day out. I'm working tonight, and I suspect I'll see a couple victims. "

What the toll means for families and healthcare systems

Gun violence victims and their families face increased risk of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other mental health problems, according to public health research. The concentration of pediatric gun injuries in a small number of ZIP codes places sustained pressure on families, schools, and community institutions in those areas.

Several Jacksonville mothers interviewed for the source reporting described the lasting trauma. Pamela Howard founded a nonprofit to support homeless people after her 17-year-old son Derrell Baker was shot and killed in September 2008 as he walked to school. Police have not made an arrest in the case nearly two decades later.

Yvonne Fields' son Rashaud, 18, was shot and killed hours after graduating from Raines High School in May 2022 while arriving at a friend's celebration. A defensive lineman who had been offered a full scholarship to play football at Keiser University in West Palm Beach, Rashaud Fields was at least the ninth 17- to 19-year-old homicide victim in Jacksonville that year, according to the Florida Times-Union.

Latasha Hobbs' son Maurice, 18, was fatally shot in January 2017 two days after his birthday as he waited for his mother to pick him up. "He was like, 'Oh my God, Mom, I made it to 18,'" Latasha Hobbs said. "So it's hard to swallow knowing that my baby didn't make it to 19. "

In March, 2-year-old A'mahri Robinson was shot in the head while his mother, Ladonna Johnson, was rocking him to sleep. Steven Dodson Jr., 21, Johnson's boyfriend, pleaded guilty in June to murder and aggravated child abuse and was sentenced to life in prison. Johnson said she and her surviving daughter will both need therapy. "I feel like I will never be OK," she said.

UF Health Jacksonville, as a safety net hospital and the region's only Level I trauma center, bears the concentrated medical burden of these injuries. The hospital's trauma surgeons and pediatric units treat the acute injuries, but the long-term mental health and rehabilitation needs often extend far beyond the initial hospitalization.

The public health and policy context

Michael Nance, chief of pediatric surgery and trauma at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, co-authored research in JAMA Pediatrics finding that the number of states where guns were the leading cause of death for children and teens increased from zero during 2004 to 2008 to 24 states from 2019 to 2023. Motor vehicle deaths among children have declined primarily because of safety interventions by governments and car manufacturers, from seat belt laws and speed limits to air bags and antilock brakes, Nance said.

Guns do not have federal safety standards, are not regulated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and cannot be recalled the way unsafe toys or cars can be, Nance noted. "We've really done almost nothing to change the trajectory of firearm injuries in kids," he said.

Research published in JAMA Pediatrics has linked increases in pediatric gun deaths from 2011 to 2023 to state-level gun policies. States with permissive gun policies, such as stand-your-ground and open-carry laws, reported higher rates of firearm deaths among children than states with strict regulations, such as weapon and age restrictions. The study ranked Florida among a group of 30 states with the most permissive gun policies.

The Florida Department of Health does not focus on gun violence as a public health threat, Goldhagen said, despite its being the nation's leading cause of death for children and teens. The State Health Improvement Plan, a set of goals developed by the health department and an advisory committee, does not mention guns, the toll they take on children, or efforts to reduce firearm deaths and injuries to young people. Its goals instead include preventing sudden unexpected infant deaths, youth drownings, emergency room visits for motor vehicle crashes, and hospitalizations for traumatic brain injuries.

Jean Francis, a former pediatric nurse who leads the Jacksonville chapter of Moms Demand Action, a nonprofit that advocates for stronger firearm laws, said, "There isn't an agenda to end gun violence in the state of Florida. "

Florida law prevents cities and counties from enacting stricter gun safety measures than those set at the state level, limiting the ability of local officials to respond to localized public health crises such as Jacksonville's pediatric gun violence concentration.

Previous programs and what happened to them

Jacksonville leaders tried to address gun violence through the Jacksonville Journey, an initiative launched in 2008 under former Mayor John Peyton when Duval County was the murder capital of Florida. The program for children at risk of violence provided mentorship, summer camps, job training, and nonpolice strategies such as neighborhood beautification projects and community center programs. The Journey also partnered with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office on gang intervention focused on young people.

Officials credited the effort with a nearly 40% reduction in homicides in Duval County in its first four years. After Peyton left office in 2011, program spending of about $15 million was slashed to $8. 6 million in 2012 and about $2. 3 million in 2014. The scaled-back program was eventually combined with another children's initiative to form the Kids Hope Alliance, which uses city, state, and federal grants to fund youth services and intervention programs.

In 2024, city leaders halted spending on a gun violence prevention program called Cure Violence, which tried to prevent conflicts between youths from escalating to shootings. A city Office of Inspector General report alleged the program lacked oversight and sound financial practices.

Duval County is the only large county in Florida that does not have a child services tax dedicated to programs for children, including efforts to reduce youth crime, according to Waytowich. "There is absolutely zero political will to do anything that remotely resembles a child services tax," she said. City leaders believe "public safety is about fire and police, but not social services," she added.

Waytowich said the lack of ongoing funds means Jacksonville is addressing symptoms rather than causes. "We don't really have the funds to address the root causes," she said. "What we're doing is slapping a band-aid on things. "

What happens next

In 2025, Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan launched a program to address gun violence called Journey Forward. Like its predecessor, Journey Forward does not have a dedicated, ongoing source of funding, relying instead on discretionary allocations that can vary year to year.

No one with the authority to address the public health crisis agreed to talk to KFF Health News about gun violence and its toll on Jacksonville's children — not the Florida health department, the governor's office, Mayor Deegan, or 18 of 19 members of the Jacksonville City Council. Only Council member Jimmy Peluso responded. Peluso said the city has long ignored the needs of neighborhoods with high rates of firearm injuries among children. "A lot of these neighborhoods have just felt like the wealth has left them, and the city didn't come in to put in the amount of work they needed to," he said.

Families of Slain Children, a Jacksonville nonprofit, has built a memorial called the Wall of Compassion listing hundreds of people killed by gunfire in the city. Memorial organizers have stood up a second wall nearby that is filling with names.

The concentration of pediatric gun violence in a handful of Jacksonville ZIP codes reflects the broader pattern of how growth, disinvestment, and policy choices shape public health outcomes across Northeast Florida. As the region continues to grow rapidly in St. Johns, Clay, and Nassau counties, the legacy of segregation and disinvestment in parts of Duval County remains a defining feature of the metropolitan area's social and physical geography.