Desperate mother pleads for justice after son dies in Eastside shooting

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A mother is pleading for answers after her son was killed this weekend on Jacksonville’s eastside.

Family members identified the victim in Saturday morning’s deadly shooting on West 5th street as Toby Gaines, Jr., 21.

“I love all my kids but my son, Jesus Christ, y’all took my boy,” said Gaines’ mother, Evett Davenport. “Please help me get justice for my son. Don’t let this monster get away with this.”

According to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, Gaines was found dead along the side of West 5th Street shortly after 7 a.m. on Saturday morning.

“I want justice,” Davenport said. “Please. I am begging anyone, someone [to come forward with information].”

Davenport and Gaines’ sister, also named Evett, shared stories of a son and loving brother who had dreams of becoming an astronomer.

“He can’t even grow up and be who he had potential to be,” Davenport said about her oldest son.

“He was smart, energetic, helpful,” said Gaines’ younger sister Evett Gaines.

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Gaines’ family says he leaves behind his father, mother, four siblings and a 4-month-old niece.

Investigators say Gaines was shot at least once.

“The state that he is in we can’t see him,” Evett Gaines said, telling News4JAX her brother was identified via fingerprints. “But he did not suffer.”

“It is very difficult to know that he was very handsome, and someone did this to him and took him away from me,” Davenport said. “I will never see my son again. I will never be called mommy by him again. Never. I will never have a grandchild from him like [my daughter] Evett. I am sad.”

This family says it is desperate for answers for closure.

“Whoever knows what happened to my son, please tell,” Davenport said. “Please turn yourself in. You are not going to rest knowing what you did was wrong.”