JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office’s tactical and narcotics units on Thursday afternoon executed simultaneous raids on two suspected houses on the city’s Westside, which were the focus of an ongoing drug investigation.
The homes are located on Nussbaum Drive near Old Middleburg Road.
Neighbors, who requested anonymity, reported seeing multiple people taken into custody during the operation. However, police have not confirmed how many individuals were charged or what evidence was seized.
“Cars coming and going. People bringing drugs out to them. It be so many people out here purchasing drugs,” they said.
RELATED: JSO: 4 facing charges after police find various drugs, two guns in Westside warehouse
Residents say both homes have long been hubs of suspected 24-hour drug activity. Some described finding used needles in their yards, and others expressed concern for their children’s safety.
“The people who have kids can’t let them out here,” another neighbor said.
Neighbors also revealed that police have visited this location on more than one occasion, adding that the property has been the site of several fatal overdoses.
“Five or six in the last seven years. It’s unbelievable. People lying in the road dead. In cars, dead. Overdosed,” a neighbor recounted. He also says there were times when he would find used needles in his front yard and another neighbor’s yard.
News4JAX Crime and Safety Analyst Tom Hackney says it’s rare to see two suspected drug houses on the same block raided at the same time.
“When you see two houses on the same street, you have to have sympathy for the folks who live around that deal with that daily, because where there are drugs, there is violence,” Hackney said.
Friday’s raids come just two weeks after JSO raided a warehouse behind a security gate off Old Kings Road. Four people were arrested and now face various drug charges. According to police, the raid resulted in the seizure of enough fentanyl to potentially kill more than 17,000 people, along with smaller amounts of Flakka, cocaine, ecstasy, and marijuana. Officers also confiscated an AK-47-style rifle and a handgun.