HORACE JAMES JR - 14 yo - Jacksonville FL

Family: Teen killed outside Jacksonville club was mistaken target

Police say it was result of an altercation that started inside.

September 27, 2010 - 12:00am



Chontel Gergar mourns the death of her son, 14-year-old Horace Lee James Jr., who was shot Saturday night outside a club in Arlington. He came to the club after seeing a movie in Regency.



The family of a 14-year-old slain outside an Arlington teen club Saturday said the eighth-grader was not involved in a dispute that erupted in gunfire, though police were investigating whether he was involved in an altercation inside Club Menage.

Another teen was supposed to be the target following an ongoing dispute with a girl, members of Horace Lee James Jr.'s family said Sunday outside the Arlington apartment complex where he lived.

Instead, Horace was shot and two girls who were also at the club were wounded.Witnesses told family members two men were involved in the shooting. They were told the shooters had been at the club with the girl.

Club owner Jay Freeman said there had not been any trouble inside the club, where a birthday was being celebrated that night. At 11 p.m. Freeman said he ushered the 80 or so teenagers out the door.He said he and a security guard and DJ were cleaning up inside when they heard three gunshots. No one appeared hurt when he looked outside.

Freeman said he thought someone may have fired into the air.Horace was found in the parking lot across the street from the club. One of the girls who was wounded was treated and released at the scene, police told the Times-Union following the shooting. The other was transported to Shands Jacksonville with non-life-threatening injuries. None of the names and ages have been released by police.

Homicide Lt. Larry Schmitt of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said early Sunday the shooting was apparently a result of an altercation that started at the party and spilled outside into the intersection next to the Walgreens. Club Menage, at 1324 University Blvd. N., plays host to teen parties for those 13 to 18 on Saturday nights. Freeman said the promotions have been going on for six months or so.

Sunday, Horace's 17-year-old sister said her brother came to the club to meet her. She said when the club closed her brother was outside in the crowd ahead of her when she heard someone had been shot. She said she didn't hear gunfire but ran to the parking lot and found her brother lying face up.

"I just lost it right there," she said. "We were just together. It was my little brother and we were close."

The Times-Union is not naming the sister because she was at the scene of the shooting. Horace arrived at the club after going to a movie at Regency Square mall, she said. "We were together the whole time at Menage," she said.
She said her brother didn't bother anyone.

Sunday, friends and family members mourned the teenager who had just gotten on the football team at Arlington Middle School.His mother, Chontel Gergar, said it was his first time to play football. "I gave him money to go to the movies," she said, tears sliding down her face. She said she didn't know he went on to the club. "He wasn't supposed to be there," she said.

His grandmother, Violet Gergar, said Horace and his older sister were the closest of siblings. "He'd always be with his sister," she said. "She could be walking down the street and he'd be walking right behind her. "Horace was always ready with a hug and a kiss for his grandmother, she said. He never bothered anyone, and was more likely to try to break up a fight than start one. "He was so tickled he was going to be playing football this year," she said.

Outside the Cimarron Apartments on Arlington River Road where Horace lived with his family, someone was playing Michael Jackson's "I'll be There," on a car stereo. Turning her face upward to stare into the sky, the mother of the boy she called her "Valentine baby," for the day he was born, followed the lyrics. "I'll be there," Chontel Gergar sang, "I'll be there, whenever you need me, I'll be there."

Anyone with information about the shootings can contact the Sheriff's Office at (904) 630-0500 or First Coast Crime Stoppers at (866) 845-8477 (845-TIPS) to remain anonymous and be eligible for rewards. Or e-mail rewards@ fccrimestoppers.com.

Slain football player's father anxious for justice
9/30 10:58 pm

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Action News has learned police may be closer to finding the person who killed 14-year-old Horace James Jr.

The Arlington Middle School student was shot and killed while he was walking his sister home from a nightclub on Saturday night.

"From what I'm hearing, the bullet wasn't meant for him. He was just there at the wrong place, at the wrong time," said the teen's father, Horace James Sr.

His family is anxious for police to make an arrest. Action News has learned new information about the investigation but if its reported, it could hinder the case. Horace Sr. says he is also aware of some new leads.

"Everybody is anxious," Horace says. "I will feel a lot better. I'll get some peace and rest."

Several people were outside Club Menage when Horace was shot. Two others were also hit by bullets.

Horace's viewing is from 5-7 p.m., Friday, at the C.L. Page Funeral Home on Moncrief. His funeral is on Saturday, at 1 p.m., at St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church.

Family, Friends Pay Respects To Teen

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Family and friends of Horace James Jr. gathered at Page Mortuary on Jacksonville's Northside Friday night to pay their respects to the 14-year-old shot and killed last Saturday night.

James and two girls were shot after leaving Club Menage, when a fight broke out and someone started shooting. The two girls are recovering. James' family continues to have hope that their son's killer will be brought to justice.

Video:Friends, Family Mourn Horace James. A viewing was held for James on Friday night. James' funeral will be Saturday at the St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church on Winton Drive.

Teen Charged In 14-Year-Old's Killing

Horace James Jr. Shot In Arlington Sept. 25 After Leaving Teen Party
6:09 pm EDT October 18, 2010

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Nearly three weeks after 14-year-old Horace James Jr. was killed and two girls were injured after leaving a teen party at an Arlington nightclub, police arrested an 18-year-old on charges of murder, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm by a felon and shooting into an occupied building.
Jeremiah Corbett, 18, was arrested Friday afternoon and ordered held without bond after appearing before a judge Saturday morning. Channel 4 was told there was an argument in the courtroom and police had to separate the Corbett and James families.


According to the police report, eyewitnesses identified Corbett as one of four people in a van from which shots were fired into a crowded parking lot on University Boulevard North and toward the Club Menage nightclub on Sept. 25.
Police said the people in the van drove over to the parking lot of a Walgreens store and began arguing with other people in the parking lot when Corbett began shooting.

Police said Corbett missed his intended target, but bullets struck James and Alexis Johnson, 17. A 12-year-old girl was injured by flying glass.

Police said witnesses identified the vehicle used, which they traced to Raphael Thompson, 19, who was charged late last month with accessory after the fact. According to Corbett's arrest report, Thompson and 20-year-old Bryant Smith named Corbett as the shooter.

"The witnesses at the scene gave the detectives the lead that led them to the van," Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Lt. Larry Schmitt said. "Without them coming forward, it would have been nearly impossible for detectives to locate that van."

James' family had always believed that Horace was shot because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The police report said Corbett denied the shooting and denied knowing either Thompson or Smith.
Even though Corbett is now in jail, James' family said it will not rest until justice is served.

"You didn't get the people you were trying to shoot, but you got innocent people that you didn't even know, people you never even met in your life," said Leon Romer, James' stepfather. "May God be with you."

According to court records, Corbett had several arrests as a juvenile, including a conviction for sale of cocaine in 2006.

Death penalty sought in teen killing at Jacksonville club

By David Hunt Tue, Mar 15, 2011 @ 6:39 pm | updated Tue, Mar 15, 2011 @ 7:03 pm



Corbett


Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for a man accused of opening fire at a crowd of teenagers outside an Jacksonville night club last September, killing one and wounding two others.

Jeremiah B. Corbett, 19, is facing trial in the death of Horace L. James Jr., 14. James was an Arlington Middle School eighth-grader who police said was caught in gunfire that erupted after a verbal dispute outside the former Club Menage at the crossroads of University Boulevard and Arlington Road.

The club, which since has changed names and management according to state business records, was having a teen night and a birthday party Sept. 25. The event ended about 11 p.m. and the teens went outside.

The gunman began firing from a van, missed his target but shot James in the head, police said. A teenage girl also was shot, but not killed, and another girl was hit by flying glass.

Two men who were with Corbett the night of the shooting have agreed to plead guilty as accessories and are expected to help make the case against Corbett, prosecutors said.

http://members.jacksonville.com/news/crime/2011-03-15/story/death-penalty-sought-teen-killing-jacksonville-club#ixzz1GiOobRj3

Man convicted of killing 14-year-old boy

21-year-old faces life in prison in shooting death outside Arlington nightclub

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -

A 21-year-old Jacksonville man was found guilty Thursday in the shooting death of a 14-year-old boy in 2010.

Published On: Mar 11 2013 11:45:48 AM EDT   Updated On: Mar 01 2013 07:22:42 AM EST


Jeremiah Corbett was convicted of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder in the killing of Horace James Jr. and shootings of two teenage girls. He was also convicted of shooting deadly missiles and possession of a firearm by an adjudicated delinquent.

The jury deliberated for more than three hours.

Corbett faces mandatory life in prison when he's sentenced April 8.

"I feel very relieved and that my brother can finally rest in peace," Markeisha Rivers, James' sister, said of the verdict. "Just being the joyful kid that he was, he didn't deserve to die the way he did."

Prosecutors said Corbett shot James in the head Sept. 25, 2010.

Friends with Corbett that night testified he felt disrespected after becoming involved in an argument between two teenage girls and an ex-boyfriend in a parking lot near Club Menage on University Boulevard in Arlington.

LISTEN: 911 calls night of shooting | IMAGES: Evidence photos in killing

Bryant Smith testified Wednesday that Corbett was responsible for the rapid fire shots that not only killed James (pictured, below) but injured two other teenage girls.

"I didn't know if they were intentionally trying to get rid of witnesses or not,"

Smith said. "But I'm scared, and I don't say nothing. Because they just got done shooting, and I don't know what's going on. I'm scared and shocked."

Prosecutors showed a recorded interview between Corbett and detectives in which he denied knowing anything about the shooting.

"You know what this looks like? It looks like the world is against you," a detective told Corbett.

"I had nothing to do with nothing. I didn't get in no van with anybody," Corbett said.

In closing arguments Wednesday, prosecutors told jurors this case centered around a bruised ego and a hot temper.

But the defense argued Corbett wasn't the one who pulled the trigger.

"There is no evidence of DNA or fingerprints that ties Jeremiah Corbett to this case," defense attorney Chuck Fletcher said.

James' family said they suffered through the trial in seeking justice for the teen.

"They was clicking through the pictures on the little screen, and I seen the hole in my brother's head, and it hurt me so bad. Why did he have to die like that?"
Rivers said.

"I can't sleep at night. All I think about is him," said Chontel Gergar, James' mother. "That was my only son. He was born on Valentine's Day. Every year, I celebrate his birthday. I go to his gravesite and I let him know his mama is still here and will always love him."

http://www.news4jax.com/news/Man-convicted-of-killing-14-year-old-boy/-/475880/19122724/-/s154wi/-/index.html