Four teenagers have been arrested in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, in the Halloween-night assault of a 22-year-old woman who was found bleeding and unconscious in a parking lot off Beach Boulevard, according to the Jacksonville Beach Police Department. The only adult named by police is Koehn Meazzo, 18. The other three suspects are minors — a 17-year-old girl, a 16-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy — and are not named because of their ages.
Source: Beach Gazette
Police say Alexis Waters, 22, was assaulted at about 1:40 a.m. on Sunday, November 1, in the 200 block of Beach Boulevard, near Second Street, as she walked to her car after a Halloween night out. Waters told an officer the last thing she remembered was leaving Mango's beach bar and walking toward her car, parked near The Ritz. Her mother said in a Facebook appeal for witnesses that Waters had left the bar to retrieve her purse and call an Uber.
Source: St. Johns Citizen
Two witnesses in a nearby McDonald's parking lot told officers they heard a "piercing scream," ran toward the sound, found Waters bleeding on the ground and called 911; neither witness saw the attack itself, according to the police incident report. Waters suffered a fractured nose, several cuts to her face and a swollen-shut eye, and was taken to hospital, treated and released. A fundraiser organised later says she was knocked unconscious in the attack.
Source: St. Johns Citizen
A recorded phone call broke the case
The arrests turned on a recording. A witness recorded a phone call in which Meazzo allegedly described the assault, and gave the recording to a school resource officer at Fletcher High School, who contacted Jacksonville Beach police the day after the attack, according to the arrest report reported by the Beach Gazette. The contents of the call were redacted from the arrest report, so what was allegedly said has not been made public.
Source: Beach Gazette
Detectives went to Fletcher High School on November 4 to interview witnesses, working with the Duval County School Board Police, who helped identify the four suspects. Meazzo was not at school and was not at home when detectives went to interview him; officers canvassed the area and found him at a nearby restaurant on Beach Boulevard, where he agreed to step outside and speak with detectives and was read his Miranda rights, according to the arrest report.
Source: Beach Gazette
The charges each suspect faces
All four suspects face charges of felony battery causing great bodily harm and mob intimidation, police said. The arrest report says each of the four allegedly used force against Waters, antagonised her and damaged her cellphone. Meazzo additionally faces charges of unarmed robbery by sudden snatching and criminal mischief. The 16-year-old girl faces additional charges of possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. All of the charges are allegations; none of the four has been convicted, and each is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
Source: Florida Times-Union via First Coast News
One of the juvenile suspects was arrested at Fletcher High School, where police say they found about 6 grams of mushrooms, described in the arrest report as "other hallucinogens," along with 10 vapes, a glass pipe with residue, a scale and other drug paraphernalia. Investigators checked two addresses for the fourth suspect, including his aunt's home, where she said she had not heard from him in several days; he was arrested and booked later that afternoon, the Beach Gazette reported.
Source: Beach Gazette
Jacksonville Beach police have not said what led to the assault, and their announcement did not set out what each suspect is alleged to have done individually. Waters told police she did not know her attackers and had not been in an altercation that night.
Community rallies around the victim
Supporters have launched a GoFundMe campaign, organised by Jacqueline Alexander, to help Waters with hospital costs and everyday bills while she recovers at home. The campaign says she has been unable to work since the attack, which it describes as a traumatic experience that "turned her world upside down in an instant." As of Sunday evening the campaign had been shared widely on social media; the total raised was not immediately available.
Source: Jacksonville Focal
Jacksonville Beach is one of the beach communities on the Atlantic coast east of Jacksonville in Duval County, and its Beach Boulevard bar and restaurant strip draws heavy Halloween crowds. The case has renewed local attention on late-night safety around the boulevard's parking lots, where this attack happened in the early hours after the Halloween festivities ended.
What happens next
Meazzo is scheduled to appear in circuit court, while the three minors are scheduled to appear in juvenile court, according to court documents reported by the Beach Gazette. The arresting officer recommended prosecution for three of the suspects and a deferral for one of the juveniles. Police have not said whether further charges are expected, and the investigation details released so far come from the arrest and incident reports.