Two men have been arrested in connection with the shooting death of 7-year-old Heidy Villanueva.
Stanley Tyron Harris III and Treconte Montie Phoenix, 17, are both in jail and police are looking for a third man - Abrion Maurice Price, 21.
Villanueva was killed Saturday when she was hit by a stray bullet during a shootout in the 7900 block of 103rd on Jacksonville's Westside. Officials said the shooting occurred during a robbery disguised as a gun deal.
Price was seen in the surveillance video wearing a light colored shirt and walking with Phoenix.
Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams, Mayor Lenny Curry and State Attorney Melissa Nelson held a news conference Tuesday afternoon. Williams said Phoenix and Price set up a robbery disguised as a gun deal.
During the fake gun deal, Phoenix and Price robbed a victim of a gun, money and cellphone, according to the sheriff. Harris was with the robbery victim during the deal because the victim was concerned about safety. Harris exchanged gunfire with Phoenix and Price. Sheriff Williams said the bullet's trajectory suggests that Harris was the one who fired the shot that killed the child.
Williams said that hundreds of tips from the public came in through Crime Stoppers and other avenues which helped bring the suspects into custody. “We can’t solve cases, especially with this pace, unless we have a heavy level of involvement from the community.”
"Our community is safe for our kids. Any one of these cases is one too many. We emphasize responding to these crimes and getting the dangerous people off the street," said Sheriff Williams. He said a small population of people are executing these crimes in Jacksonville and said it was the priority of the Sheriff's Office to get them off the street. We all put in a tremendous amount of time and energy on those individuals," he said.
Mayor Lenny Curry visited the scene of the crime today on 103rd street, "The last few days have been filled with sadness and grief. There are no words to describe what’s happened. What you see where today, we have to continue to invest in preventing crime. We are going to make sure the Sheriff has the resources he needs to go and get the bad guy," said Curry. "Know that they’re coming after you and they’re going to prosecute you.”
Police are still searching for Price. If you have any information regarding his whereabouts, there is a $5,000 reward available for any information. You can call Crime Stoppers with that information at 1-866-845-TIPS.
"Nobody should be helping Price," said Sheriff Williams. "You should be calling and turning him in." Williams was clear that if someone is found to be helping Price avoid the law, they will also be arrested.
A GoFundMe account was set up for Villanueva's funeral services. Her family hopes to raise $30,000 to help send her body to Honduras, her native country, so she could be buried there.